Changes occur during World War I as students are required to burn German books at school and German-Americans are beaten and thrown into prison.

Henry Lankford survives the biggest Cincinnati flood, then must face the threat of cholera.

Thirteen-year-old Holly tries to start a romance with Danny, uncover her mother's secret admirer, and hide her age from a college pen pal.

With the beginning of the stock market crash and the Great Depression, the Harringtons are faced with the fears of many families: lost jobs and homes, and also, the threat of tuberculosis.

In 1937 twelve-year-old Isabel Harrington lives in Seattle and dreams of seeing Walt Disney's Snow White, but when homeless men steal Christmas gifts from her father and people insult her best friend's family just for being Japanese American, she learns ways to combat injustice.

Mark and Holly must decide on what to do about their frienships with Jens and Camille.

Mark and Sally are on vacation in San Francisco with their mother and new stepfather when an earthquake strikes and the city begins to burn.

America and Germany are at war and Carl and Edie Vaught, the American children of a German father, become objects of suspicion among their freinds.