Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was a remote pocket of Nazi-held France, where ordinary people risked their lives to rescue many hundreds of strangers, mostly Jewish children. Was this a fluke of history, or something more? Anthropologist Maggie Paxson arrives on this plateau to explore this phenomenon: What are the traits that make a group choose selflessness? In this beautiful, wind-blown place, Paxson discovers a tradition of offering refuge that dates back centuries. But it is the story of her distant relative, Daniel Trocmé—who risked and lost his life to protect these children—that provides the beacon for which she has been searching, offering renewed faith in the possibilities for us all, in an age of global conflict.