Go Forward with Courage

As America is thrust into war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, two young Americans find their lives instantly and dramatically changed. Jackson becomes a first hand witness to the dawning of the war on a Sunday morning in Hawaii which begins like any other. For Michi and her family, the war begins in California, at their family grocery store. Through no choice of their own, both teens find themselves relocated to a rural corner of the Arkansas Delta—far from anything that feels remotely safe or familiar. Though both are grandchildren of immigrants, life is profoundly different for Jackson and Michi due to the ancestry of their grandparents. Jackson lives on a farm on the outskirts of town and instantly wins over the local boys with his tales of Pearl Harbor and the “Japs”. Michi lives behind barbed wire in the Rohwer Relocation Center with thousands of other Americans relocated there by the government. As the war drags on, Jackson struggles to let go of the hate that grips him while Michi tries to makes sense of her feelings of betrayal at being considered disloyal to the country she has always been proud of. When circumstances bring the two together, they each discover that during times of war the lines between friends and enemies can be hard to define, as they find themselves at the crossroads of loss and love.