Papa always speaks of someday bringing his granddaughter back home to Cabo Verde. But the girl has never set foot on their ancestral island’s faraway shores. And each time Papa urges her to speak Kriolu, the Portuguese creole native to the West African country, the girl’s tongue betrays her, and she stumbles over her own words. If she can’t even get the language right, she doubts that her grandfather’s home will ever truly be hers, too.

But each Saturday afternoon when she helps guide her sight-impaired grandfather through their close-knit Massachusetts community, the girl swears she can smell, hear, and feel Kriolu. And each Saturday she comes closer to discovering where home truly lies.