Synopsis

In the smoldering streets of Occupied Germany, Ethel Gathers—proud wife of an American soldier, desperate to start a family of her own—spots a group of mixed-race children following a nun through the rubble. Something compels her to follow. What she discovers will set in motion a chain of events that reaches across decades.

Ozzie Philips volunteers for the army in 1948, determined to break barriers for Black soldiers. Instead, he finds the racism of his Philadelphia home waiting for him overseas. He finds unexpected comfort with Jelka, a German woman navigating grief and scarcity in her devastated country—a relationship that carries consequences neither of them fully anticipates.

In 1965, Sophia Clark seizes the chance to integrate a prestigious Maryland boarding school and escape a painful home life. A chance encounter with a classmate surfaces a secret that reframes everything she thought she knew about herself.

Keeper of Lost Children moves across these three lives with warmth and precision, exploring how one woman's act of compassion reverberates through generations—and how love in all its forms can be an act of survival.