As their ship pulls into the New York harbor, a young boy looks out at the city for his father. Their father left eight years before to America, and now the rest of the family is following. The boy can only think of his abandonment with bitterness and resentment. His younger brother was one of the casualties of war in their home country, and his loss devastated the boy. Now, he understands his mother’s decision not to write and tell their father of his son’s death. The next morning, at Ellis Island, clerks question the family separately from their father and then stop them when one answer is inconsistent: the number of children. The boy’s mother breaks down in tears trying to explain what happened, and the clerk lets them through. On the other side, their father meets them, and the look in his eyes indicates he figured out what happened. The boy appreciates his father for not asking what happened, and he gives each of the children a cap to wear. He doesn’t have time to hide the fourth one he brought, which again sends the mother into hysterics. The family goes to the father’s house in the city, where he finally breaks down in tears. The rest of the night, they stare at the extra woolen cap on the table, realizing that their brother and their grief for him has indeed accompanied them to America.