Ages 10 years & over. Thirteen-year-old Johnny Anders is something of a misfit, with no friends and a poor school record, but all this changes when he is awakened one night to find a soldier-ghost in his bedroom. Johnny is taken back into a series of graphic events in Canada's war history. Whereas his teachers tell him that there were no Chinese-Canadians involved in World War II, Johnny meets Bill Chong of Vancouver who is working as a courier between Hong Kong and mainland China. Johnny must also learn about the role of Canadian women in war when he watches as Joan Bamford Fletcher commandeers Japanese soldiers to take hundreds of wounded civilians to safety through the jungles of Indonesia. Johnnny is even more surprised when he meets the much-decorated Raymond Collishaw and learns that Canada played a role in the Russian Revolution. Even as he is making his discoveries, Johnny becomes close friends with Casey Collishaw, the great-granddaughter of Raymond Collishaw. Together the pair set about uncovering why it is that Johnny has been chosen to be a witness to Canadians at war.