Through the eyes of five young children, all the events that marked Greek history during the period before and after the Asia Minor Catastrophe are described.

The hero and protagonist is the Smyrniote George Seizanis, who, now older, decides to recount to his grandchildren the events as he experienced them.

Everything begins in Smyrna when the children accidentally learn about a secret underground church located beneath the church of Agia Fotini. There, the icon of the Virgin Mary of the Persecuted has been kept since ancient times.

When the Turks enter Smyrna and the children become separated from their parents, they find refuge in the underground church. Alone, they seek a way to escape to Greece, and when, after many adventures, they arrive there, they search for their loved ones.

With them, they carry the icon of the Persecuted Virgin Mary to take it to the monastery of the Virgin Mary of Hozoviotissa on Amorgos, where tradition holds it is her home.

The struggle of hope and survival of the children sends a deeply anti-war message: The message of hope and the elevation of human greatness, which, no matter how much the soul suffers, whatever circumstances it faces, however persecuted it is, with deep faith and continuous struggle manages to overcome even the most difficult situations.