Los Baños Prison Camp, January 1944

Eleanor receives a care package from home but no news of John Olson. The prisoners play a game of baseball against the Japanese soldiers; after the soldiers lose a few innings badly, the commandant cancels the game and announces there will be no more baseball. Eleanor recognizes one player as the ensign who greeted her when she arrived in Manila, David Mathis. They meet after her shift and talk until curfew. She sees David’s selflessness when he says he shared the contents of his care package with others in his barracks, and they talk about what they might do after the war; he says Eleanor should come to San Diego.

Santo Tomas Internment Camp, February 1944

A senior military officer, Colonel Onozaki, takes over the camp. He ends the package line and other contacts with the outside world.

The new commandant speaks no English, so Akibo’s role as interpreter gives him a sense of power. Jim Hobbs demands to know whether they’ll still be allowed to receive letters and parcels, as required under the Geneva Convention, “which your prime minister has signed” (249). Penny thinks this is a clever argument, even though Japan never ratified the agreement, because it asks the Japanese to either honor their intentions or admit intent to commit war crimes.

The camp’s delicate economy falls apart. Food portions are smaller than Onozaki promised, and Maude and Penny fret over Newt, adding their portions to her plate, because she’s not growing as she should. One night, Captain Akibo stops Penny and Newt. He asks Penny if she’s ready to be his mistress yet and then shares a large chocolate bar with Newt, which she devours; he suggests that more such favors would be hers if Penny submits.

Los Baños Prison Camp, March 1944

Eleanor and David grow closer, and she tells him about John Olson. David suggests that John might return her feelings, but she insists that she was mistaken to believe he ever had feelings for her. She and David agree to continue as friends but agree that they wouldn’t mind if it became something more.

More civilians arrive at the camp, and Eleanor can’t understand why the Japanese don’t just send them back to the US or Europe. Peg says they’ll never do what the enemy wants.

Santa Catalina Convent, May 1944

Lita and Reyna care for the children at the convent, and Ida Hube uses her funds to provide things they need. Jun-Jun, the boy she saved from fever, is one of Lita’s favorites.

At night, Lita and Reyna hear guards in the street. Lita, expecting to be arrested, confesses her smuggling to Reyna, who says she knew. Kempeitai officers storm the apartment, arresting Reyna, whom they accuse of helping guerilla fighters. Lita recalls that Reyna’s brothers are fighting Japanese forces in the jungle.

Los Baños Prison Camp, August 1944

A new quartermaster, Lieutenant Konishi, instates routine punishment and reduces food allotments by 20%. He leaves wild fruit and food deliveries to rot in the sun, forcing prisoners to scavenge whatever they can find. Eleanor is especially disgusted by how innocent children at the camp starve while the guards have plates heaping with nutritious food. Mothers lack milk to feed their infants, and the women of the camp stop menstruating due to malnutrition.

David tells her that MacArthur is back in the Philippines and rescue is coming. As people begin to die of starvation-related illnesses, Eleanor struggles to have hope, knowing that Konishi wants to kill them all.

Santo Tomas Internment Camp, September 1944

Using a hidden radio, the internees learn that US pilots conducted a stealth raid on Manila. Penny frets that the camp looks like a military base, making it a potential target for bombers, and Maude says that’s the point: If US forces destroy the camp, the Japanese won’t have to answer for its conditions. In retaliation for US advances, Onozaki cuts food rations again.

Father Domingo shares news that the Japanese are doing poorly in the war, and Penny notes that their captors are taking out their anger on the prisoners. It will end soon, he assures her, hinting that the camp “is not as secure as our enemies believe” (275). The prisoners present Onozaki with a formal written complaint. He says he “cannot be required to meet the strange and unhealthy dietary requirements of the American palate” (275), denying any malnutrition or hunger.

Father Domingo brings supplies for Penny and Newt, smuggling them through a tunnel under the chapel. However, the Japanese discover this, so they set the church on fire and then shoot Father Domingo and throw his body into the burning building. Penny is grief-stricken. Jim Hobbs tells her it’s revenge for the continuing advance of US troops. She knows rescue could be weeks or months away. Food is so scarce that the prisoners begin frying grass in cold cream; Penny refuses to eat it and forbids Newt from eating it but wonders how long it will be before she has to take Akibo up on his offer.

That night, soldiers search their room for the radio, which gets moved from place to place to keep it hidden; tonight it’s in a bucket near Penny’s bed. She sits on the bucket, holding Newt in her arms. As soldiers approach, Newt vomits cold cream and fried grass (which she stole while women were cooking it) all over herself and Penny. Disgusted, the guards leave. Newt is distraught about making a mess, but Penny says she saved their lives.

Santa Catalina Convent, December 1944

Lita and Ida Hube continue doing what they can to help the children at the convent, who are preparing for a New Year’s celebration. Lita asks after Reyna, but Ida knows only that the Kempeitai are still holding her. As Ida prepares to leave, the Kempeitai arrive and arrest Lita.