On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops attacks the Philippine Islands and catapults the Filipino people into the fray of World War II. A month later, Manila finds itself under full Japanese occupation. The occupants of Manila must now choose to remain in the city under full Japanese authority, or to take flight to other islands in the hope of remaining beyond the enemy's immediate presence.

Torio and Rissing Santos decide to flee Manila with their children. Many of their friends and relatives choose to stay. Book 1 chronicles their individual and joint struggles and adventures as they rise to the challenges of living in a war-ravaged country.

Lucinda Trinidad, for one, chooses to stay and work with the commander at the Santo Tomas internment camp. She discovers that not all Filipinos are heroes, and not all Japanese are evil. As a Filipino Scout, Torio comes face to face with the enemy in battle... and finds it difficult to forget that Japanese soldiers too have children and wives like him. In order to protect and defend her children, Rissing finds herself rising to the challenge of simple survival tactics, even as she watches her children taking up weapons to defend themselves not only against the Japanese soldiers, but against their own kind... desperate people in desperate straits to survive.