oung Rachel Kalama, growing up in idyllic Honolulu in the 1890s, is part of a big, loving Hawaiian family, and dreams of seeing far-off lands. But, at the age of seven, Rachel's dreams are shattered by the discovery that she has leprosy. Forcibly removed from her family, she is sent to Kalaupapa, the isolated leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Eventually, she finds a family of friends to replace the family she's lost, and falls in love with a fellow exile. But loss is a constant shadow in Kalau-papa, as the people Rachel loves are taken away one by one-until the astonishing day when a medical breakthrough allows her to leave the island.

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