In April of 1939, as 20-year-old Gary Gatlin travels from Los Angeles to the Orient, he cannot possibly know that he will influence the outcome of World War II in ways that few could imagine. The son of Utah fruit farmers, Gary's friendship with California Japanese farmers immerses him in their culture and language. Later his family sends him to Formosa to learn about advanced Japanese fruit cultivation. When he arrives on the lush island nation, hints of war are already in the air, and the arrival of an American fluent in Japanese raises suspicions. To complicate matters, his growing romance with the daughter of a local fruit farmer puts them all in great peril.With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, total war rages across the Pacific. With the help of local tribesmen, Gary slips through a Japanese police dragnet and escapes the island aboard a freighter, only to be drawn deeper into harm's way. After being marooned on an uncharted atoll, fate again finds him. In a desperate gamble to reverse inevitable disaster, the US Navy calls upon Gary to serve on a dangerous mission that could tip the scales of history.