By Authority of Czar Nicholas, the families of Molovsk are to present their sons for induction into the military. Terms of conscription is 25 years. The Czar's soldiers are riding into villages throughout Russia, seizing boys for the military. Mendel knows that he too will be taken - unless he can escape. The woods are filled with bounty-hunters, and the border is heavily guarded by armed soldiers. Can Mendel cross the border to Hungary - and to freedom?