From the time she was a little girl, Maryam rebelled against the terrible second-class existence that was her destiny as an Afghan woman. A new life of freedom in America seemed within her grasp, but her father had other ideas and arranged a traditional marriage to a fellow Afghan, who turned out to be a violent man. Beaten, raped and abused, Maryam found joy in the birth of a baby son. She escaped her brutal husband, but he kidnapped their little boy, and stole him away far beyond his mother's reach.