Born in America, Yuki and Ken are U.S. citizens, but their parents, born in Japan, are not. This makes Mr. Sakane particularly suspect in the eyes of the war-time American authorities. Although he is an innocent businessperson, he is arrested and taken away from his family soon after the U.S. declares war on Japan. Yuki, Ken, and their mother must make the move from Berkeley to Tanforan and from Tanforan to Topaz.

Their non-Japanese neighbors are mostly sympathetic but powerless to help Yuki's family. Mrs. Jamieson, Yuki's best friend Mimi Nelson, and others can offer only sympathy and some help with food and other necessities. After they move, Yuki and her family find these good friends to be sources of distant support, receiving from them letters and supplies. Others merely exploit Yuki's family. One neighbor even digs up part of Mr. Sakane's garden because...