Stones from the River is set in Burgdorf, a small German town, between 1915 and 1951. Trudi Montag is a Zwerg - the German word for dwarf woman. As a dwarf she is set apart, the outsider whose physical otherness has a corollary in her refusal to be a part of Burgdorf's silent complicity during and after World War II. Trudi establishes her status and power, not through beauty, marriage, or motherhood, but rather as the town's librarian and relentless collector of stories.