America has entered the Great War, and life is changing. Carl struggles to raise a Victory Garden in their backyard, while Edie tries to fix meatless meals and bake breads using less flour. Other changes are scary. Students are required to burn German books at school, and Carl and Edie are persecuted because their last name, Schmidt, is German. German-Americans are being beaten and thrown into prison. Then one night just before Christmas, Papa doesn't come home from work and the family learns that he has been arrested. He is charged with adding ground glass to the flour at the mill where he works. Will Papa be safe while he's kept in the jail? And how will he prove his innocence?