Late in the 1600s, on a lovely spring day, the beloved but elderly Rabbi of Berdicheva, accompanied by three of his students, sets out traveling north from Berdicheva through the Pale of Settlement toward Vilna, the rabbi's birthplace and still the home of his brother and his family. Though he is still a vigorous man, the rabbi is too wise to assume he will remain so forever. He longs to see those he loves, and yearns to revisit the cherished places of his childhood at least one more time. Along the way he has agreed to visit the congregation of the Great Rabbi of Chelm and meet with the wise...