Taking a job in a London bookshop just as the Blitz begins, Grace finds comfort in the power of words, storytelling and community as the bookshop becomes one of the only remaining properties to survive the bombings.

Even though the city faces nightly air raids, in 1941 Joseph is sent to London to live with the gruff Mrs F, who teaches the angry boy how to care for the remaining animals in the city zoo, including a mighty silverback gorilla named Adonis.