Sam (10) and his family head off to the Dutch island of Terschelling on holiday, but his brother breaks his leg on their first day there. Bad luck for his brother, but the accident lets Sam meet Tess; a peculiar girl who has an ingenious plan for getting to know her birth father. She's got just one week to make his acquaintance, and she decides that Sam should help her. Although Sam is forcing himself to practice being alone to protect himself from future grief, he discovers during his adventures with Tess how important family really is.
n the Magway region of Myanmar, a country that is home to one of the oldest petroleum industries in the world, live husband and wife Thein Shwe and Htwe Tin. Running an unregulated oil field, they produce a barrel every few days. They wish above all else to see their youngest son succeed, to break the cycle of poverty. A kettle boils. Mud slicked hands work sputtering machines. The ambient sound of a football match hums from a nearby television.