Gordon Parker is just an eager 18-year-old Australian boy desperate to fight for his country, and Nobuko 'Cherry' Sakuramoto is a 16-year-old girl struggling to survive in Japan in the aftermath of World War II. But when they fall in love, they change the course of history.

When Gordon arrived in Japan, he expected ruthless samurai, angry Japanese men ready to kill Australians at every corner. Instead, he found Cherry, terrified of ex-enemy soldiers, a 16-year-old survivor of the atomic bomb. Against all the rules and against all odds, they fall in love. But when Gordon discovers the White Australia Policy prevents Cherry coming home with him as his war bride, Gordon does what any 20-year-old soldier would do. He vows to fight. Leaving Cherry alone and pregnant in post-war Japan, Gordon somehow has to convince his family to accept his marriage and wage a desperate campaign against a xenophobic and war-scarred government to allow his wife and his family to come home.