PALOUSE, WASHINGTON
1943

Please god, let us win this lousy war soon

World War II has changed life for everyone in the little farming town of Palouse, Washington. Josie Poe spends long nights afraid that bombs could begin to fall at any moment. Her days are consumed with trying to find ways to help the war effort. Like most American kids, she is growing a Victory Garden, wearing clothes that are two or three years old, and saving up money to buy war stamps and bonds. But the harder she works to help the war effort, the more Josie Poe is ashamed of her older brother.

Tom hasn't enlisted in the armed services, even though all his good friends have. Everyone in town has a loved one fighting in Europe or the Pacific -- none of the other young men were cowardly about their duty. When a robbery seems to involve Tom, Josie has to find out the truth about her brother. What she learns -- and what she does -- will change her relationship with him forever.