A dog whose beloved owner has died and an orphaned ten-year-old girl find each other while enduring poverty and homelessness in early-twentieth-century Boston.

"The fisherman on Lesovs call her Kanella because of her cinnamon color. She's a scrawny, nervous stray--intimidated by the harbor cats and the other dogs that compete for handouts on the pier. One spring day, a dinghy filled with weary, desperate strangers comes to shore. Other boats follow, crowded with refugees who are homeless and hungry. Kanella knows what that is like, and she follows them as they are taken to a temporary refugee camp set up...