Luke has a secret technique that keeps him from falling asleep. Since he was a very young child he's not slept - he knows that if he does fall asleep he will never wake again. And now he's enduring threats from vicious school bullies who cut the brake cables on his bike. But who can he tell? His father is just a black hole in his memory. His mother? She just speaks to him in five second phone calls or notes on the kitchen table...... When hiding from the bullies in a derelict church, Luke meets Mariam, a mysterious refugee girl who left her country in flight from terrorists. She tells him of her courageous father who, seven years ago, spoke out about the evil regime in her country and is now a political prisoner. He is an internationally famous artist and he created the magnificent stained glass window in that derelict church. He's known as the Light-Maker. Mariam and Luke become close friends. Luke tells her that his father is just a black hole in his memory. Then he tells her that he must never fall asleep or he'll die. Mariam tells him that one day he will find his father and all will be well. But the bullies are now threatening them both with death and they know where they are hiding... As panic takes over, Luke, unknowingly, is drawing closer to the father he doesn't remember. He's also slowly growing closer to the tragic secret that has remained hidden in his family for seven years....