1. ARREST
Scanning the sky, a group of people meditate on how comet collisions and changes in constellations reflect recurring situations in the world. The group is surrounded and led away by threatening guards.
2. TRAPPED
They're all gathered in one camp. Simon and his sister describe how their neighbours have turned against them; around them, the guards are questioning their own actions. Fear begins to set in.
3. TOGETHER
The prisoners sing together and, under pressure, come to form a community, while the children play. Under the glow of a red moon, Simon and his sister recall their mother's visit to a fortune-teller, who told her that her son would be lucky. While he sleeps, Simon remembers his mother's eyes and his father's grief and sings his dreams.
4. UNCERTAINTY
Prisoners are awakened by a dazzling light and resounding orders. They are given signs to wear around their necks with numbers that are also written on their wrists. Simon is given the number 1234 and his mother the number 1233. The groups are separated, and Simon and his mother are pushed onto a train. The child turns around and sees his sister for the last time.
5. PUSH
The prisoners, crammed into a moving train, are panic-stricken. A group of resistance fighters managed to slow down the train, and in the confusion, the prisoners tried to escape. The train is still too fast to jump off safely, but Simon's mother chooses to push her son to escape: ‘She pushed me. I jumped and ran to stay alive.’
6. ESCAPE
The children run, a refrain goes round and round in their heads. Simon tells how he arrived in a small village where a man helped him and put him on a train back to town. There he found his father and was forced to hide.
7. SOME YEARS LATER
As he is about to die, the guard hears that Simon has begun to tell his story. He acknowledges the role he played to Simon and asks for his forgiveness. Faced with the expression of his guilt, Simon grants him forgiveness.
8. EPILOGUE
Simon stresses how important it is for him to tell his story, to live in the present and to seek optimism, joy and friendship. He sings that his mother gave birth to him twice, pushing him towards life and then towards freedom.
