Ethie Coulter was born after her father returned from the war in 1945. She wonders why he is so silent and withdrawn? She never knew him as he was before - an open, loving man and devoted husband. He was one of hundreds of Canadians sent to the Far East after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Surviving the fierce battle for Hong Kong, he became a POW, moving from camp to notorious camp, watching friends die of disease, starvation and worse. Yet Howard carries more than the physical and mental scars of that time. Something happened in Hong Kong... Ethie, inquisitive and fearless, will find the truth and help her father come to terms with the past.