When Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, rumors fly that all the Japanese on the West Coast will be relocated far inland into camps by the U.S. government. Wanting freedom for his family, Teddy Sato's father legally avoids their imprisonment by signing them up as sharecroppers in Oklahoma. Within three years the camp internees have been freed and within four, the War has ended. Yet a decade later the Satos are still beholden to the farm. Now a sixth grader, Teddy is determined to get them back to California, their real home. But how? Papa is dead, the drought continues, their debts grow, and Mama refuses welfare for her and her seven children. Teddy is stubborn and won't give up.