Because Kullys father has written the wrong things about his country, and because there might be a war coming (Kullys heard of some of the men involved, like Hitler, Chamberlain and Mussolini) her family cant go back to Germany. But because visas run out, they cant stay anywhere else either. So they keep moving from country to country and staying in hotels. Often Kullys father travels off to stir up an advance while she and her mother stay at the hotels in hock, while bills mount up and it becomes harder and harder to leave . . .