Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector and a human rights activist with South Korean citizenship. She was born on October 4, 1993, in the small town of Hyesan, which borders China to the northwest. As she recounts in this memoir, Park’s family falls into financial destitution after her father is arrested in 2003 for smuggling metals from Pyongyang to sell across the border. She escapes to China with her mother in 2007 at the age of 13 in search of her older sister, who left on her own. Her father follows in their footsteps six months later but dies of colon cancer in early 2008. After her father’s death, Park and her mother are aided by Christian missionaries in Qingdao and flee to South Korea by way of Mongolia. They arrive in Seoul in 2009, where Park continues her education.

While Park and her family are safer in South Korea, Park does not feel truly free when she arrives. She struggles with adapting to South Korean society, being accepted by her peers, and discovering who she is. A volunteering mission in which she travels to help impoverished communicates helps her heal and makes her realize that her story can help and inspire others.