December 1941: America reels from the brutal attack on Pearl Harbor. Both patriotism and paranoia grip New York as the city frantically mobilizes for war. Nurse Louise Hunter is outraged when the FBI, in a midnight sweep of prominent Japanese residents, storms in to arrest her patient's wife. The desperately ill Professor Oakley is married to Masako Fumi, an avant - garde artist who has befriended Louise, a newcomer to the bustling city. The nurse vows to help the professor free Masako. When the murdered body of Masako's art dealer is discovered in the gallery where he'd been closing down her controversial show, Masako's troubles multiply. Homicide detective Michael McKenna doubts her guilt, but an ambitious G - man schemes to lever the homicide and ensuing espionage accusations into a political cause celebre. Louise hires a radical lawyer famous for shouldering human rights cases as the Oakleys' friends and colleagues desert them one by one. She also enlists the help of her journalist roommate. But has the nurse been too trusting? Sensing a career - making story, Cabby Ward sets out to exploit Masako's dilemma for her own gain, bumping heads with Lieutenant McKenna at every turn.
Struggling to focus on one man's murder while America plunges into a worldwide war, Louise and McKenna defy both racism and ham - fisted government agents in order to expose the real killer.