1940, in the skies east of Burma: Tracers shoot past Otto as he dives away from the strafing. His spitfire jerks from the riddling and his nostrils fill with the smell of hydraulic fluid. He fumbles with the stubborn controls, using his throttle to coax his crippled plane back into attack position. The six Japanese bombers are headed for Rangoon, where his wife is giving birth to their first child. He can't let them through. He only has one chance to blast them out of the sky, and he dives toward them.Across the world, Layland searches the deep green waters of the Celtic Sea, depth charges ready to drop, bent on revenge against the U-boat that sunk his ship and took his wife-or is that her? He shakes his head and looks again.Back at home, the women and children of the Meinrel household face kidnappers, spies and errant congressmen who call them un-American. Linking arms with friends, the family braces for the onslaught of the Second World War, with three family members in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese Imperial Navy launches its first wave of attacks.This sweeping saga captures the resilience, faith and spirit of a family as the world explodes in wars, dragging them into the middle of the drama.