Maddie Beck who is 13 and has recently moved to a Long Island boardinghouse. Meanwhile her father is stationed in the Pacific. She has a rough time at first until she makes friends with a boy named Johnny Vecchio. After the bombing in Pearl Harbor, Maddie and Johnny create a student group to sell bonds, gather metal, collect newspapers and used books, and make first-aid kits for the Red Cross. Then one night, Maddie runs into 2 suspicious men at the beach. Later in the story this will lead to the arrest of 4 Nazi agents. Then the family a telegram that Maddie's father has been injured. Soon after, they get ready to move, again, San Francisco where he is.
