Tom is a troubled twelve-year-old dealing with bullies and parents on the brink of a divorce. But everything changes when he time-travels back to 1941 and meets an orphan, May.

May introduces Tom to the Wheeler family and tries to persuade him to stay safe with her at their farm, but he is afraid of being trapped in the past forever.

When Tom finds a way back to his own time, he not only must explain his disappearance to his mother but also learns some shocking information about what became of May and the others.

Tom's strange experience has a magical effect on events both in the past and the present day, helping him to come to terms with his real life troubles.