Number the Stars is a story about courage. In 1943, Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has been occupied by Hitler's Third Reich. Soldiers stand on every street corner, and life is changed irrevocably for ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen. Wartime food shortages and the psychological terror of the Nazi takeover have made life difficult for Danish citizens; now the Nazis have decided to relocate all of Copenhagen's Jewish families, and Ellen is Jewish.

Lowry shows that Jews and non-Jews alike among Denmark's population suffer terribly at the hands of the Nazis. The Johansen family lost its eldest daughter, Lise, just two weeks before her wedding day. When Nazis raided a Resistance meeting attended by Inge, she was intentionally run down and killed by a military car. Later in the novel, Annemarie follows her sister's example, risks her own life for the cause of the Resistance, and saves Ellen's family. Annemarie's quick thinking and selflessness make her a heroine, but she is but one among many ordinary Danish citizens who stand against the Nazis. Number the Stars depicts the courage and the integrity of the Danish people, who proved that even during times of terror, human decency can prevail.