Park weaves two stories together: that of Nya, a young girl from Sudan in 2008-09, and that of Salva, a Sudanese boy whose story begins in the 1980s and continues into the 2000s.
In Nya’s story, she is of the Nuer tribe. Her responsibility is to walk to the pond twice a day every day to fetch water for her family; it is a long, hot walk, but water is scarce in the region. She wishes she could go to school but that is only for boys. She worries about her sister, Akeer, who is sick from the poor water, but there is little that can be done.
One day, two men come to Nya’s village. They talk with the elders and construction begins in the ground between two big trees. When Nya learns there is going to be a well built, she is skeptical. The drilling process is arduous, and one of the men who is clearly the leader has to coax and encourage the workers.
Finally, the well yields fresh water and the entire village celebrates. One at a time, people bring their bottles to taste the clear water. Nya is also excited to learn that there is going to be a school built, and since she does not have to fetch water anymore, she can go to school.
Nya walks over to the man who helped bring the well about and thanks him. He asks her name and she tells him. He tells her his name is Salva.
Salva’s story starts with him being in school, daydreaming about the walk home. Suddenly, his thoughts are interrupted by the patter of gunfire and the teacher shouts for all the boys to get down. When the shooting stops, he urges the boys to run into the bush so that they will not be conscripted into the fighting between the rebels and the soldiers in the Sudanese civil war.
Salva obeys and runs into the bush, but he is stressed that he is separated from his family. He joins up with others on the run, but they eventually leave him because he is too young. He is able to join another group, however, and promises to keep up.
The group decides to journey to Ethiopia, where they will be safe and stay in refugee camps. Salva is distressed about his family, but one day he discovers his uncle Jewiir has joined the group. Uncle is very kind to Salva and encourages him when the times get tough. However, he also tells Salva it is likely that his family was killed because the village was burned.
Salva hopes Uncle will stay with him once they arrive in Ethiopia, but Uncle says he is going to return to the fighting.
Salva makes a close friend named Marial on the journey, but, one night, ravenous lions take Marial. Salva is very upset. Uncle never makes it to Ethiopia: a couple of men ambush the group, take their supplies and Uncle’s gun, and kill Uncle.
With the losses of Uncle and Marial, Salva actually feels stronger, as if they were helping him. He makes it to the refugee camp, where he is shocked at the number of people who are there.
Salva ends up being in the camp until he is seventeen. Then, one day, the Ethiopian soldiers arrive and say they have to leave immediately. They use their guns and start pushing the people toward the rushing river nearby. Salva knows there are crocodiles and that the current is strong, but when the soldiers start shooting, the people have no choice but to dive in. Salva barely makes it, and he does not know why he was spared.
Once back in Sudan, he decides he will walk to Kenya where there are refugee camps. May other boys join him and he becomes a de facto leader. These are the “lost boys,” and there are over twelve hundred who make it to Kenya.
Salva lives in two different refugee camps for several years. He learns to speak English thanks to an Irish aid worker named Michael. One day, rumors begin sweeping the camp that some of the boys will be sent to America to live. Salva’s name eventually ends up on a list and he is excited to learn he will be going to Rochester, New York.
The flights are long and Salva is amazed at the big world below him in the plane. He meets Chris, Louise, and their four children. He lives with them for a couple of years and decides to attend college and study business. He wants to do something for Sudan but is not sure what.
One day, a cousin in Zimbabwe emails him and tells him his father is in a medical clinic in Sudan. Salva is astonished that his father is alive, and he immediately starts planning a trip. It takes many months, but finally, he is able to go.
He arrives in Sudan and takes a jeep several hours to the clinic. He walks in, asks for his father, and confronts him. He recognizes him even though he looks older, and the two have an emotional reunion. His father tells him that his mother, brother, and two sisters are still alive, though two other brothers died in the fighting. Salva wishes he could see them, but he cannot return to the area while the fighting is still going strong or he would be taken.
On the way home to America, Salva has an idea, which he pursues for the next couple of years. It takes a lot of planning, advice, forms, and more, but finally Salva is ready: he is going to build wells in Sudan with his nonprofit Water for Sudan.
This is how he encounters Nya.
