Summary

At the onset of World War I, Marie remains in Paris while her daughters are safe in the countryside. Refusing to leave Paris when the Germans threaten invasion, Marie aids the war effort by creating "little Curies," or mobile X-Ray units made from limousines, and often driving the units herself to help wounded French soldiers get faster care. As France calls for gold and silver to be donated, Marie offers up her medals, including the two given to her for Nobel Prize awards, but she is turned down.

After the war, Marie finds peace in the village of Larcouest, an ocean side destination populated by many of her scientific contemporaries. There, the vacationing Sorbonne professors discuss little of physics and mathematics and instead spend their time swimming and sailing. Marie spends much of her...