Having left an unhappy life in England to teach at a missionary school in China, Elspeth Kent is now anxious to return home to help her country's efforts to defeat Hitler's Germany. But as she prepares to leave, a terrible twist of fate determines a different path for her. Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School, until Japan declares war on Britain and America, and Japanese forces take control of the school. Now considered enemies, the children look to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol to provide a sense of unity and safety, but worse is to come when they are sent to an internment camp where even greater uncertainty and danger await.