"A life-affirming tale of optimism and family togetherness, even as the ground shifts under their feet." From a vacation to a one-way trip, we escaped Czechoslovakia and the Iron Curtain. Fourteen, naive, stranded in West Germany - I saw only high adventures as my Father kept the mission together, my kid brother yearned to buy another Matchbox car and my Mother kept slowly unraveling under the stress of uncertain change. Yet America awaited, perfect and invincible, right beyond the ocean.