Nick DeAngelo and Nishi Nishamura are the teenage children of Italian and Japanese immigrants living in San Francisco just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of America into World War II. The boys develop a friendship while planning an exhibition baseball game between their Italian and Japanese neighborhood teams, but the coming war creates fear, suspicion, and hostility toward their families, communities, and ultimately their participation in the sport that makes them feel connected to the country that they call home.