While escaping from Nazis during the WWII, a Jewish man dug suitcases full of things dear to his heart in the ground two. The war deprived him of his family, and afterwards he endlessly turns over the soil of Antwerp to find the suitcases, which makes him look obsessed. He keeps checking old maps and keeps digging, trying to find, in fact, those he lost. His daughter Chaya is a beautiful modern girl looking for a part-time job. She finds a place as a nanny in the strictly observant Chassidic family with many children, although her secular manners clearly fly in the face of many commandments. One of the reasons she is accepted is that mother of the family is absolutely overburdened by the household, so she stays despite the resistance of the father, normally - an indisputable authority in the family. She develops a special bond with the youngest of the boys, four-year old Simcha, so far incapable of speaking.
Laura Fraser
as Chaya Silberschmidt
Adam Monty
as Simcha Kalman
Isabella Rossellini
as Mrs. Kalman
Jeroen Krabbé
as Mr. Kalman
David Bradley
as Concierge
Marianne Sägebrecht
as Mrs. Silberschmidt
Maximilian Schell
as Mr. Silberschmidt
Chaim Topol
as Yacov Apfelschnitt
Heather Weeks
as Sofie
