The summer that Patty Bergen turns 12 is a summer that will haunt her forever, because her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a German prison camp. Even though she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own.

In Anton, Patty finds someone who softens the pain of her own father's rejection and who appreciates her in a way her mother never will. While patriotic feelings run high, Patty risks losing family, friends—even her freedom—for this dangerous friendship. It is a risk she has to take, and one she will have to pay a price to keep.