Milkweed is set in Warsaw, Poland, during World War II. The main character, an unnamed boy who acquires multiple names throughout the plot, is introduced to a band of thieves when he meets Uri, a fellow thief who acts as his guardian, and bestows upon him his new name, Misha Pilsudski. Peter D. Sieruta noted, “Misha’s early days with Uri are almost carefree”.[3] While out stealing with Uri, Misha witnesses German invaders “Jackboots” capture Poland. He describes the Jackboots as “magnificent” and later states that he wants to become a Jackboot.[4] Shortly after Poland is captured, Uri decides to create a false identity for Misha, “which Misha gratefully adopts to fill the void that is his past”.[5] This fabricated background states that Misha is a Gypsy born in Russia to a large and old family. His mother was a talented fortune teller, he had “seven brothers and five sisters,” and a beloved “speckled mare” named Greta.[6] In this story, bombs and hateful Polish farmers separate Misha’s family until he winds up as an orphan in Warsaw.
While Misha is smuggling, he ends up in a garden where he meets a girl named Janina. Misha describes Janina as a “little girl,” who reveals she is Jewish. Janina invites Misha to her seventh birthday party and without knowing what birthday cakes are, Misha panics—thinking that they were trying to “burn down the cake”—and blows out the candles and runs away with the birthday cake.[7] With Jackboot control over Warsaw tightening, a curfew is established and “stupid” Misha ends up getting his earlobe shot off from being out past curfew.[8] City conditions worsen with low food supplies, people lose their houses including Janina and her family, loss of electricity, and Jews are being harshly prosecuted.[9] Eventually all Jewish people in Warsaw including Misha, Janina, and the gang of boys are moved into the ghetto. Janina's uncle Shepsel describes their new living conditions as if living in a "closet".[10]
News goes out that Himmler, a prominent Nazi, is coming. One day, a parade of Jackboots passes, and Misha tries to catch the attention of the ugly, unresponsive man who he thinks is Himmler, but instead is knocked to the ground by Buffo, a man who enjoys killing Jewish children. Once Uri reassures Misha that the man he saw was in fact Himmler, Misha decides that he no longer wants to be a Jackboot.[11] Each night Misha steals by slipping through a hole in the wall that is “two bricks wide”.[12] His friend Janina wants to mimic him, so she begins following him on his stealing expeditions. One day, as they're playing in the courtyard, they spot a milkweed. Janina deems it to be her angel as it flies off into the sky along with other milkweeds. "It was thrilling just to see a plant, a spot of green in the ghetto desert."
As time passes, the conditions of the ghetto worsen. One day as Misha is “walking along,”[13] Uri appears. Uri, who has been gone for a long time, warns Misha that deportations are coming, and that all of the people will be cleared out of the ghetto. Sometime later, an old man appears advising the people that there is no resettlement, and instead the Jews are going to be taken away and killed. That night, Janina’s father Mr. Milgrom tells Misha that when he and Janina go out to steal, they need to run away. Janina and Misha stay in Poland though because Janina refuses to leave and kicks Misha when he tries to take her away. Janina drags Misha to the Ghetto only to find the room where they had lived deserted. Janina runs in desperation to find her father, and Misha loses sight of her in the crowd of people. Following, he sees her thrown into a boxcar by a Jackboot. Misha is hit with a club, and kicked before Uri, who appears to be a Jackboot, shoots him in the ear, taking the rest of it off.
Misha awakens near the train tracks in a state of confusion. A farmer finds him and takes him to a farm where Misha stays for three years working and sleeping in a barn with the animals and eventually runs away. Not knowing what to do next, he rides on trains and ends up back in Warsaw where there is rubble and he then removes his armband leaving it on the sidewalk. Misha returns to the countryside, continuously stealing and even drags his own little cart filled with the things he stole. He continues his thievery and starts selling his stolen goods. For Misha, it was "more about talking than about selling". He could not be shut up.
Misha decides to immigrate to America. Misha gets his name changed to Jack by an immigration officer when moving to America. He becomes a salesman here, albeit being quite unsuccessful. "No one hired [him] to sell the best products. The problems were [his] size ([he] had stopped growing at five feet, one inch), [his] accent, and [his] missing ear which now looked like a clump of cauliflower. Who would let such a galoot in the door?" In his desperation to sell the products, he starts to spout "nonsense" about the war. Most people try to ignore him, except for a woman named Vivian who stops to listen to his stories. She marries him but she gets tired of Jack's (Misha's) strange and weird acts so she decided to leave after five months while being pregnant.
Misha addresses the reader, telling them that they were "the thing that gave [him] shape". He tells them that "the important thing was not that you listened, but that I talked. I can see that now. I was born into craziness. When the whole world turned crazy, I was ready for it. That's how I survived. And when the craziness was over, where did that leave me? On the street corner, that's where, running my mouth, spilling myself. And I needed you there. You were the bottle I poured myself into." He continues to ramble about his adventures in the streets. "Then one day in Philadelphia, in the shadow of City Hall two women stopped and listened... After a while one of them reached out her hand and cupped [his] ear clump. She smiled, nodded and said, 'We hear you. It's enough. It's over.' And they walked on, and [he] went another way, and [he] never took another street corner."
Many years pass, and we find Jack working in a Bag ‘n Go market when his daughter and granddaughter walk in. They introduce themselves as Katherine and Wendy, respectively. Katherine asks him to give Wendy her middle name, which she had left blank for him to fill. Without a moment of hesitation, he answers, "Janina". They take him home.
Jack digs up the milkweed plant and plants it in his own back yard. "The milkweed does not change colors. The milkweed is as green in October as in July." He calls it an "angel plant". For him, it is a symbol of endurance; it is a symbol of his survival. He often spends time with his granddaughter, Wendy Janina, who calls him Poppynoodle. Katherine asks him if he'll ever explain to her his granddaughter's middle name, to which he replies, "Someday". As he rocks Janina in his lap, Misha thinks of all the names he has been called. "Call me thief. Call me stupid. Call me Gypsy. Call me Jew. Call me one-eared Jack. I don't care. Empty-handed victims once told me who I was. Then Uri told me. Then an armband. Then an immigration officer. And now this little girl in my lap, this little girl whose call silences the trampling Jackboots. Her voice will be the last. I was. Now I am. I am... Poppynoodle."
