So far, in chapter 1, a lot has happened. The protagonist, Salva, experienced the attack of his village. During that attack, he was in school. Everyone evacuated into the bush, where the shooters won't find them.

2, 3, 4, After Salva evacuated the school, a large black cloud of smoke appears causing him to run until he could not anymore. He managed to stay with a group of people. Once they stopped, they were sorted into groups of villages. Once Salva found the people of her village, soon after, they were captured by a rebel tribe and brought to their camp. They were sorted into groups of men, and women, and children. The men were forced to work. Salva eventually found a barn to rest in, and so he did. When he woke up, the barn was empty, everyone had left him. Later, he found a woman who owned the barn who was from the same village as Salva. The woman offered the boy shelter and food in exchange for labor. Salva worked hard, hoping that she wouldn't send him away. The woman later told Salva that she will need to leave, ALONE due to the coming war. Salva panicked until he saw a group of people approaching. They were from the same tribe as Salva. They were convinced by Salva and the woman to bring Salva along on their journey. He did not ask where they were going, fearing that questions might make them change their mind. They walked day and night. Salva grew hungry. His new friend spotted a nearby beehive, foreshadowing that they will have a great meal out of it. 

5, 6, 7, Salvas group keeps getting bigger. One day Salva met this boy named Martial and they became friends. Martial told Salva that they are going to Ethiopia. Salva realizes that his uncle, Jewiir is in the group too. Salvas’s friend, Martial is gone and they think has been killed by a lion. The group can smell vegetation so they know they are next to the Nile river. 

8, Nya's little sister was sick because of the dirty water. Salva arrived at the island where fishermen gave his uncle some food and a lot of mosquitos were there.

9, Nya's family had been back home in her village and a stranger had a talk with the chief.

Salva was in the desert where is no plants no water .he was so thirsty and his uncle told him you have to run as much as he can to the bush.

10, Nya met two men speaking different language .she understand that there is water close to them to find.

Salva still in the desert where is no water just a little with him and wanted to share with others.

Salva got shocked when his uncle told him that a few only from his village were survived and most of them have died. Salva's uncle was shoot by fire and he was killed by six armed men.

11, The Nuer men buried Uncle in a hole. Salva was devastated. The people in the group stopped being nice to him and never gave him food because his uncle wasn’t there. They continued walking and finally reached the Itang camp in Ethiopia 

12, When they arrived there they noticed that the camp had thousands of people and Salva thought he saw his mother. Salva ended up spending 6 years there. Many armed men stormed the camp and forced everyone to leave.

13, The soldiers pushed many refugees into the river with many crocodiles. Many refugees died due to the crocodiles and soldiers killing them. Salva crossed the dangerous water dodging bullets and avoiding crocodiles. After he crossed the river he formed a group and they began walking to Kenya and it took.

14, 15, 16, Salva has now been living in the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya for 5 years. Salva starts talking about how he lived in the Kakuma camp, which was like a prison, therefore he left with a few others to the Ifo camp. Then he talked about his experiences in the camp, such as learning the language of English. Then one day, the news broke out, America held a program for refugees where 3000 orphan refugees from Ifo camp would be selected to live with a new family in America. Lucky enough, he was one of the few people chosen. He would partake in the journey on a truck that leads to an airport. He took a plane to his new family in New York! When he arrived, he was startled by the whether. It was cold, unlike where he previously lived. He arrived at the house and was grateful for them letting him stay. Soon, he got a message that people have found his father in a hospital in Southern Sudan. 

17, After deciding what Salva wanted to do to make a difference in South Sudan, Salva and his friend spent weeks making the plan. He decided that he wanted to give South Sudan clean and easy access to water he went to countless speeches, raising money. At the end of chapter 

18, it was finally revealed how Nya's and Salva's stories were related. Nya's story was about trying to find water in South Sudan. During her story, people come to South Sudan to install wells. This impacted Nya's family due to the fact that they now have an easy and convenient way of finding water. At the very end of the book, it's revealed that the person who came to South Sudan with the idea of installing wells was in fact, Salva.