Dushan's dreams had always been unusual-sometimes scary, sometimes exhilarating. But ever since he was seven years old his dreams took on another dimension-it was like he was awake inside them. His mother-who he thought had been killed in the Yugoslavian civil war when he was a baby-was talking to him, telling him she was alive and living with his father-who was supposed to have been lost at sea during a fishing expedition in the North Sea. In each of those dreams, Dushan was unable to respond and tell his parents that he was living with his "adopted" family in California and was best friends with his "stepbrother" Danilo. The two stepbrothers were now teenagers and occasionally popped up in one another's dreams, sharing their impressions after waking up. However, the time for dreaming was past-they were about to embark on a desperate attempt to escape their abusive father, the man who arranged to steal Dushan from his real father and plant the lie that his real parents were dead. Their attempt succeeded on one level, but the consequences were completely unexpected.