In 1939, Kay Jeynes, a lively, ambitious young working-class woman, goes to work for the only Japanese businessman in town, the elderly, wealthy, Oxford-educated Mr. Miyashita. Despite differences in their age, race, and class, a friendship develops between them in the peaceful vacuum of Mr. Miyashita's office. But outside, on the city streets, a dark chapter in recent history is taking shape. As war looms, relations between North America and Japan grow steadily worse. Travel becomes impossible for Mr. Miyashita, so he asks Kay to cross the Pacific Ocean to retrieve a family heirloom, even as the Imperial Navy is maneuvering into position for the attack on Pearl Harbor. On this journey, Kay commits some seemingly small sins of omission. But in the paranoid climate of the times, these little white lies put Mr. Miyashita at risk of being arrested as a spy.