Summary

In chapter 1, the book starts with an unnamed narrator reflecting on trees. Many important events in his life happened around trees, however, he is now unable to see any due to the fact that he lives in a ghetto where trees are strictly prohibited. The narrator is a Jew during WWII and is forced to live in a ghetto with strict rules in order to survive the horror the Nazi regime.

He begins narrating that Jacob walking around the ghetto around the 8:00 PM curfew is stopped by a police officer who tells him he is out late. Jacob goes to the military barracks and while waiting to be punished he hears on the radio that the Red Army is close to capturing the city of Bezanika, which is around 200 hundred miles away from where he lives. Before talking to the military commander, Jacob notices...