The Sakane family hears news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio at lunch.

FBI agents and police officers arrive at the Sakane home and take Mr. Sakane away for questioning.

The family makes a brief visit to Mr. Sakane in San Francisco; he reveals he will be sent to Montana.

President Roosevelt signs the executive order mandating the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.

Yuki says a tearful goodbye to Pepper, handing the dog over to a kind UC Berkeley student named Andy.

The Nelson family drives the Sakanes to a church removal depot, where the family boards buses for camp.

The Sakane family arrives at Tanforan Assembly Center and discovers their assigned apartment is a former horse stall.

Yuki meets her next-door neighbor Emi Kurihara at Tanforan, and the two girls quickly become best friends.

A train departs Tanforan, carrying the Sakane family toward the Topaz War Relocation Center in the Utah desert.

Emi collapses in the desert sand at Topaz and is rushed to the hospital by medical workers.

A guard shoots and kills Mr. Kurihara during his evening walk along the camp border fence.

Mr. Sakane is released on parole and arrives at Topaz, reuniting with his family after nearly a year apart.

Army recruiters arrive at Topaz to announce the formation of an all-Nisei military regiment.

Ken announces he and his friend Jim will enlist; the family bids him farewell as he leaves for basic training.

The Sakane family boards a bus departing Topaz, heading toward a new life in Salt Lake City.

The novel opens with the Sakane family's peaceful Berkeley life shattered by the Pearl Harbor attack and Mr. Sakane's immediate arrest by FBI agents. Forced from their home by executive order, the family gives up Pepper the dog and boards buses to the Tanforan Assembly Center, where their assigned apartment proves to be a converted horse stall. At Tanforan, Yuki befriends Emi Kurihara before the family is loaded onto a train bound for the Topaz desert camp in Utah. At Topaz, Emi collapses with tuberculosis and neighbor Mr. Kurihara is shot and killed by a guard, while Ken grows increasingly bitter and distant. The family is restored when Mr. Sakane returns on parole, Ken enlists in the all-Nisei regiment and finds himself again, and the Sakanes finally depart Topaz by bus for a new life in Salt Lake City.

The headline events of the Sakane family's forced journey from Berkeley to Topaz.

Yuki's everyday life in Berkeley is established: she feeds Pepper, chats with her canary, and anticipates Christmas.

Ken arrives home from the library to find FBI agents still guarding the household and his father gone.

A classmate calls Yuki a racist slur at school; the teacher firmly defends the Nisei students as fully American.

Yuki delivers cookies to Mrs. Jamieson, who responds by giving Yuki one of her finest pearl rings as a keepsake.

Without telling Yuki, Ken places an ad in the UC Berkeley newspaper to find Pepper a new owner.

Mrs. Sakane destroys family letters connecting them to Japan and officially registers herself as an enemy alien.

Mrs. Jamieson visits the Sakanes the night before their departure and gives Mrs. Sakane an envelope containing $20.

Crowds of spectators line the streets to watch the Japanese community leave Berkeley on buses.

Mr. Toda visits the Sakanes at their Tanforan horse stall and gives Yuki a welcomed bag of peanuts.

Mr. Kurihara bitterly notes that the camp elections are the first time he has been allowed to vote as an Issei.

Ken decides to stay with his family in camp rather than accept the scholarship to study at an eastern college.

Mrs. Sakane forbids Yuki from visiting Emi in the hospital after doctors warn the girl may have tuberculosis.

Emi's tuberculosis diagnosis is confirmed; Yuki begins writing regular letters to keep Emi connected to life in camp.

Insulation is finally installed in the barracks, bringing the family privacy and warmth through the bitter desert winter.

Emi is discharged from the Topaz hospital, and her joyful reunion with Yuki makes staying in camp bearable.

Before the forced removal, the novel carefully establishes Yuki's comfortable Berkeley life and then depicts the small indignities that follow: a racist slur from a classmate, a sorrowful farewell gift of a pearl ring, and Ken secretly placing a newspaper ad to rehome Pepper. Mrs. Sakane destroys letters linking the family to Japan and registers as an enemy alien, while neighbors offer what comfort they can before departure. At Tanforan, Mr. Toda's bag of peanuts and the Kuriharas' hospitality sustain the family's spirits, while Mr. Kurihara's bitterness at being allowed to vote for the first time signals the injustice beneath surface life in camp. Ken ultimately decides to remain with his family rather than accept a scholarship to study on the East Coast, a sacrifice that weighs on Yuki. At Topaz, Emi's tuberculosis diagnosis forces Yuki to communicate only through letters, insulation is slowly installed in the barracks, and the story reaches an emotional high point when Emi is finally discharged from the hospital.

The secondary moments that shaped daily life, quiet losses, and hard choices during incarceration.

The family receives a postcard from Mr. Sakane confirming he is safe and being held in San Francisco.

Ken announces he is dropping out of university to become the official head of the household in his father's absence.

At a farewell dinner at the Nelsons' home, Mimi gives Yuki a red leather diary as a goodbye gift.

Yuki and Emi witness Mr. Toda arguing with a bitter man at Tanforan who insists Japan will win the war.

Ken reveals to the family that Nisei university students have been offered the chance to study at eastern colleges.

Yuki receives word from Mrs. Jamieson that Pepper has died; she weeps alone at the foot of a guard tower.

Mrs. Sakane warns Mr. Kurihara that letting bitterness take hold will destroy them more surely than the war ever could.

Yuki sneaks into the Topaz hospital to visit Emi but is caught in a violent dust storm on the way home.

Mr. Toda and Mr. Kurihara form a close friendship, taking nightly walks together to collect arrowheads and trilobite fossils.

At Mr. Kurihara's funeral, Yuki quietly places her best arrowhead on his grave as a silent personal tribute.

At the recruitment meeting, Mr. Toda publicly asks why Nisei men should fight for a country that imprisoned them.

The night before Ken departs, Mr. Toda takes Ken aside privately and tells him he is doing the right thing.

A camp agitator throws a smoke bomb through the Sakane family's window, and Mrs. Sakane insists they must leave Topaz.

Mrs. Sakane gives Mr. Toda all their remaining canned food and promises to help him relocate to Salt Lake City someday.

Yuki watches Topaz disappear from the bus window and feels a rush of joy as the outside world comes alive again.

The family's ordeal begins to take emotional shape through a series of revealing moments: a postcard confirming Mr. Sakane's safety, Ken's resignation from university, and Mimi's farewell gift of a red diary. At Tanforan, Yuki overhears a heated argument that forces her to see the deep divisions within her own community, and Ken's revelation of an East Coast scholarship opens a painful conflict between family loyalty and personal future. The death of Pepper, received in a letter, leaves Yuki with nowhere private to grieve, and Mrs. Sakane's quiet warning to Mr. Kurihara about the poison of bitterness becomes the novel's moral center. At Topaz, a terrifying dust storm, a shattering friendship through arrowheads and fossil walks, and Mr. Kurihara's memorial define the camp's human cost. The arc closes with Mr. Toda's private blessing of Ken's enlistment, a smoke bomb that finally breaks the family's resolve to stay, and Yuki's emotional farewell as Topaz disappears behind the bus.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that define the Sakane family's journey.