Shanghai, 1941 - a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbour. In streets full of chaos and corpses, an eleven-year-old British boy, Jim, searches in vain for his parents. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he faces the harsh realities of war and learns important lessons about human nature. He is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war - and the dawn of a blighted world. In this coming-of-age tale, Jim lets go of his innocent ideas about war and heroism and in the process reveals the meaning of courage, tenacity, and faith in the endurance of the human spirit.