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The NKDV, a secret soviet police force, arrives at Linas home in the middle of the night and forces them to urgently pack up all their belongings. They are then thrown in a truck and transported to the train station, where they are packed into train cars like cattle. -
The train ride finally comes to an end in a barren area just south of China. The offoicers split all the passengers into groups and auction them off as slaves. Lina group is not chosen as they were weaker and so they wre sent to a labor camp, and were given only 300 grams of bread rations daily for their work -
The people are being abused mentally and physically by the camp. Linas younger brother Jonas had just recovered from scurvy and is gifted for Christmas by Andrius a special gemstone rock that is supposed to give him courage. This is important as it serves as a symbol of hope for many characters later on. -
Lina’s group and new found friends are separated once again when they are told some of them must leave camp. They are once again shoved into trains, this time being brought to the Angara river and left for over a week with barely enough food to survive. -
Lina and her family are loaded onto barges that after an incredibly long journey stop in Trofimovsk, near the North Pole. They have no food, medicine or places to stay and because of the time of year soon there will be no sunlight for 180 days, meaning each group must search for materials and build themselves a jurta. -
The first major snow storm occurs and many people struggle under the extreme weather conditions. One group's jurta was blocked by snow and they all died inside. It is also during this storm where Lina finds out that the real reason her father was arrested was for helping someone escape Lithuania. -
Mrs. Vilkas is speaking with Kretzky, the only guard to show any compassion towards Lina's family, when she suddenly bursts into tears. Lina finds out that her father had been killed in a labor camp similar to the one she had attended. -
Diseases such as dysentery, typhus, and scurvy begin to spread rapidly throughout the group due to unsanitary conditions. More and more people are dying and they lack the medical resources or supplies to bring them back to health. -
Mrs. Vilkas catches typhus and is much too weak to fight it. Despite the efforts of her children to aid her by wrapping her in a blanket and placing hot bricks on her feet she is unable to handle the symptoms and passes away in her son's arms. -
After watching Mrs.Vilkas die, Kretzky, who cared deeply for her, risked his life to send doctor Dr. Samodurov to the camp. He saves Jonas' life, and provides all the sick and wounded with enough medical supplies and food to turn things around.