For many years, Ilsa Redlich has helped her parents run a hotel in South Amana, but as the United States enters the Great War, she can feel her world changing. The residents of the towns surrounding the Amana Colonies used to be accepting of their quiet, peaceful neighbors, but with antiGerman sentiment running high, the Amana villages are now plagued by vandalism, threats, and insults. Things get even worse when Ilsa finds out her family wont be allowed to speak German in publicand that Garon, the childhood friend shes long been smitten with, has decided to join the army. Jutta Schmidt is shocked when several members of the Council of National Defense show up on her familys doorstep. Sure, the Schmidts once lived in the Amana Colonies, but that was years ago.
