In a small shop in a snowy village in Russia, Nikolai the doll maker was carving his last matryoshka. From one piece of soft wood he shaped six nesting dolls, each one fitting inside the other. They all opened in the middle and were hollow inside, except for the littlest. She was the size of a bumblebee and she was made of the heart of the sweet-smelling wood.

Nikolai lines up the dolls from biggest to smallest, and names each one: Anna, Olga, Varka, Vanda, Nadia, and Nina. He tucks them one inside the other. Before he sends them off to a toy shop in America, he kisses Anna goodbye and tells her: "Keep your sisters safe inside you and may you find a happy home."

The matryoshka sisters have a safe journey across the sea. The toy shop owner lines them up on the shelf, but Nina, the littlest, is too close to the edge. While her sisters watch helplessly, Nina is knocked off the shelf, kicked outside into the street, and buried in snow. What will become of her?

A little girl named Jessie buys the matryoshka at half price and brings it home. At night she put a little ball of cotton inside Nadia, so she wouldn't feel empty inside. Meanwhile, Nina starts off on an adventure-filled, perilous journey. She's carried off in a truck, swept along a stream, and caught in a waterfall. How will she ever be reunited with her sisters?

An Author's Note at the end of the book tells you all about the history of Russian nesting dolls.