The Search

The Maliks are a young Czech family consisting of mother and doctor father, Hannah and Jan, and children, older daughter Vlasda and younger son Karel. During World War II, the Nazis separate the family: Jan and Vlasda are eventually killed, and Hannah and Karel, together, are sent to Auschwitz where they are eventually separated from each other. In post war Germany, Hannah, looking for Karel, wanders from one United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) camp after another, these camps where many of the children who were separated from their parents during the war are housed. Meanwhile, U.S. Army engineer, Ralph 'Steve' Stevenson, finds a scared and hungry Karel wandering the streets - Karel managed to run away from one of the UNRRA camps. Suspicious of Steve at first, Karel, who Steve renames "Jim" as he will not provide his own name, ultimately learns to trust Steve. Thinking that Jim's mother is dead, Steve wants to bring Jim back to the United States with him, not knowing that Jim's mother is on a desperate mission looking for her son.