Myung-gi knows war is coming: War between North and South Korea. Life in communist North Korea has become more and more unbearable - there is no freedom of speech, movement, association, or thought - and his parents have been carefully planning the family's escape.

But when his father is abducted by the secret police, all those plans fall apart. How can Myung-gi leave North Korea without his dad? Especially when he believes that the abduction was his fault?

Set during a cataclysmic war which shaped the world we know today, this is the story of one boy's coming-of-age during a time when inhumanity, lawlessness, and terror reigned supreme. Myung-gi, his mother, and his twelve-year-old sister Yoomee do everything they can to protect one another. But gentle, quiet, bookish Myung-gi has plans to find his father at any cost - even if it means joining the army and being sent to the front lines, where his deepest fears await him.