Soraya is an 11-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan living under the shadow of a temporary protection visa. Soraya and her family begin a new life in a South Australian town. She attends school for the first time, though she had been taught at home. She studies hard so she'll be put in a higher class and be able to stay in Australia, and she begins to make friends, not just at school but with the 'possum man', who lives in her street. Soraya remembers how her older sister and brother died in Kabul, and how her favourite brother, Qamar, was taken by the Taliban to fight. Her father died in prison. She remembers some of the journey to Australia and the year in the detention centre.