Rescue

Meg and the Durands start on their way, and the young girl welcomes Jakob’s attempts at friendship. However, she is unsettled by the fact that the Durands, whose name is likely fake, are German. Albert tells her that they are fleeing Germany because they could not be part of the atrocities committed by the Nazis anymore. Their conversation is interrupted by partisans coming out of the woods around them.

Meg recognizes her friend Yvonne, one of the partisans, who asks about her traveling companions. Meg tells her that she is staying with a Dutch family who is taking her to the countryside but that they do not speak French. Fortunately, Liesel speaks Dutch and is able to answer Yvonne’s questions convincingly. Yvonne then invites them to camp with the partisans overnight and thanks Meg for her earlier warning about the Nazi searches in town. Later, Meg reflects on her father’s code and realizes that one of the phrases suggests that he wants her to meet him in Switzerland. It would be a much more dangerous journey than going to Spain, but Meg decides to try and convince the Durands to change their itinerary.

Jakob joins Meg by the fire and explains that his mother was a translator. Meg is shocked to learn that she used to work for the Nazis. Yvonne also tells Meg how Sylvie injured her ankle: As Nazi soldiers tried to intercept one of her transmissions, Sylvie had to run away and sprained her ankle when she jumped down a ledge. She had time to hide the suitcase containing her radio equipment before Jakob came to her aid. Yvonne then asks Meg about their plans, and the latter tells her that they will escape through Switzerland. The partisan then warns her against the danger of taking that route and tells her to look for Pierre, a friend who can help them cross the border to the Forbidden Zone.

After they leave the partisan camp the next day, Meg and the Durands discuss their plan. They need to go to Paris to catch a train to Spain, but Meg tries to convince them to get one to Switzerland instead. She tells them about the message hidden in her father’s note, but the others are not convinced. Albert argues that Harper could not have known that his daughter would be traveling with them and, therefore, could not have given her instructions. They decide to stick to their original plan.

While they walk through cornfields, Jakob and Meg have a conversation about Liesel, who vehemently opposed Meg’s suggestions earlier. Jakob asks Meg to reserve judgment on his mother because she does not know what Liesel has endured. Meg, who is frustrated and believes that all Germans are bad, remains wary. Later, as they take a break, Liesel apologizes to Meg for her behavior. However, they are interrupted by a car coming up the road. They hurry to hide in the cornstalks, but Albert realizes that he has dropped his glasses.

The car parks near Meg and the Durands, and a group of German soldiers comes out to have their lunch. They open cans of food, which they throw into the field when realizing that they have gone bad. One can lands next to Jakob, who unexpectedly smiles. The soldiers then find Albert’s glasses and start searching through the cornstalks, with one of them getting very close to their hiding place. They do not find the runaways and instead crush Albert’s glasses before leaving.

Jakob explains that when he was enrolled in the Hitler Youth, he was tasked with loading cans of food in crates for the soldiers. He made sure to punch a hole into every can so the food would go bad, and now wonders whether the can thrown by the soldiers may have been one of those he packed. Later, Liesel tells Meg about her daughter, whose name is Margarete, who was forced to join the League of German Girls. Even after Liesel realized what working as a translator for the Nazi regime involved, she was forced to continue working for them to protect her daughter. Liesel hopes to reunite with her after the war is over and she returns to Germany.

Meg and her companions take shelter in an abandoned house for the night. When she finds a menorah in a drawer, the young girl reminisces about a Jewish friend of hers, a Roma family, and other people in her town who disappeared. As Meg starts reading the spy manual that she found in Captain Stewart’s backpack, she realizes that Jakob is watching her. She resolves to remain cautious around him and his parents.

The next day, the Durands decide to walk until they find a train station. When they finally reach one, another woman is waiting for the train. As some German cars approach, they run and hide behind some trees but realize that the woman must have seen them and could report them. Meg is surprised to see Lieutenant Becker exit one of the cars.

As the Lieutenant talks to his soldiers, Liesel hears that they are looking for a girl who fits Meg’s description. The Nazis question the woman on the train platform, who points them in the opposite direction from where Meg and her companions are hiding. When a train finally arrives, more soldiers descend, and the fugitives realize that the station is too full of Nazis for them to get on a train. Meg suggests that they scatter tire spikes, which she found in Captain Stewart’s backpack, to sabotage the soldiers’ cars. Albert refuses, telling her that it would draw too much attention. Jakob then walks away in frustration, and Meg follows him. The young boy reveals that Albert and Liesel are not his parents but that they need to pretend that they are a family to stay safe. He also implies that Albert is the reason why his parents are gone. Before they get on their way again, he and Meg scatter some of the tire spikes on the road.

When Meg returns to Albert and Liesel with Jakob, she realizes that someone has rummaged through Captain Stewart’s backpack and blames herself for not being careful enough. Later, she asks Albert and Liesel to work on their cover story together so that she knows what to say should they be caught. They agree and decide to try acting more affectionately toward one another. That night, Albert wakes them up to watch a lunar eclipse.

The fugitives reach the suburbs of Paris, where German soldiers are everywhere. Meg and Liesel take some of Captain Stewart’s ration cards to try and get some food. At the stores, the shelves are almost empty, and some of the customers start getting angry at the clerk. Liesel and Meg get out before the situation attracts more attention and are relieved when they are able to get away just before some police officers arrive.

Meg and her companions arrive near Paris. As they discuss their next steps, Jakob and Albert have a disagreement that ends with Jakob walking away. Albert explains to Meg that Jakob resents him for not helping his parents but that he does not know the entire story. In fact, Jakob’s father worked with Harper at the weapons factory under Albert’s supervision. The two of them became friends but were reported for sabotage to Albert, who was only able to help one of them escape. Jakob’s father decided to hide his family himself and let Albert get Harper out. Jakob’s parents were arrested before they could escape while Jakob was away on an errand, resulting in the young boy having to leave with Albert.

The Durands decide to get to the nearest train station in Boulogne-Billancourt. Meg shows Jakob her father’s note and poetry book and translates them for him, but he is unable to break the code. The four of them eventually find a room to rent for the night.

Meg and the Durands are suddenly awakened by bombs falling nearby. They run toward the building’s cellar, where other people are also taking shelter. They are terrified and begin waiting for the bombing to stop. One of the bombs then falls on top of the building, bursting the cellar’s water pipes.

As the cellar is slowly filling up with water, everyone tries to leave, but the door is jammed. Some men push against it until Jakob is able to slip out and help open the door from outside. Once outside, Albert warns them that other planes are coming, so they decide to find shelter elsewhere. As they look for a place to hide, a Nazi soldier tells them to get in his car so he can drive them to safety. Given the danger of the bombs, the fugitives get in the car and let him take them to the Boulogne-Billancourt train station, which is crowded with people seeking shelter.