When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. Tally and her cousin Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that their whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won't make them go away.

Thirteen-year-old Piper Davis records in her diary her experiences beginning in December 1941 when her brother joins the Navy, the United States goes to war, she attempts to document her life through photography, and her father--the pastor for a Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle--follows his congregants to an Idaho internment camp, taking her along with him. Includes historical notes.