The Lantz family has to leave Austria: the new Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, and his Nazi soldiers, have an intense hatred for Jews. The family has to wait a long time to get the money for passports and boarding passes for passage to America, and are forced to leave Grandma behind, later discovering she was taken to a concentration camp. During the dreadful journey in steerage, Maxine befriends a lady travelling on one of the upper decks and finds a beautiful button which she is unable to return to her before they must leave the ship. Who would have guessed that when Papa opens a tailor shop the mysterious button will reunite their family. Little does Maxine know that button will become her future!