December, 1941 While the world focuses on the carnage at Pearl Harbor, tiny Wake Island 2,300 miles west is also under attack. On it are 1,200 civilians and a small detachment of marines. This frightened, under-equipped band of Americans will hold the mighty Japanese navy at bay for sixteen days before succumbing to the sweeping invasion. Remember Wake becomes a battle cry for a nation marching to war.Now prisoners of the Emperor, Colin Finnely and the others are crowded aboard a notorious Japanese hell-ship bound for Asia, where they will suffer four long years as slave laborers in disease-infested camps. They will die by the hundreds.With only one reason to live his love for his fiancée, Maggie Braun Collin struggles to survive torture and inhuman conditions. And on the home front, Maggie, unsure if Colin is even alive, faces agonizing decisions that may alter both their lives.