In 741, the western world is in a state of upheaval. Pagan religion is at its height in what is now known as France and Germany, but Christianity is quickly taking root and spreading like wildfire while Islam is threatening to be a major religious contender in the west. Charles the Hammer has conquered the continent for the Merovingian kings but he secretly hopes that his children will become kings in their own right. The only flaw in Charles’s plan is he is dying. Before he dies, he plans on splitting the Frankish kingdom into three regions making his three sons mayors of each.

Yoshi Kobayash is a young fifteen year old girl living in Japan like many others when one night her life changes forever. The Doolittle regiment dumped napalm on her city, changing her life inexplicably–thousands are dead and her city is in ruins. The book opens with the courtship and marriage of Cam and Lacy in New York and then shifts to Japan where we meet Billy Reynolds, an American boy whose father designs public buildings in Japan. Billy’s mother gives him a camera for his birthday which is a central theme in this story. We then meet Kenji and Hana Kobayashi and their daughter, Yoshi.