Boisterous 11-year-old Ruby Carol Rafferty's happy life in Seattle is turned upside-down after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Suddenly America is at war, Ruby's longed-for Christmas trip is cancelled, her father wants to join the Army, and her Japanese American best friend is getting shipped away to an internment camp (prison!) just because of her heritage. A new friend's family fled from the Nazis in Europe. Ruby can't stop what's happening, but can she and her friends keep a song in their hearts until the world comes back to its senses?