AllMovie

Set in British Columbia, Canada shortly after Pearl Harbor, this thought-provoking made for television drama chronicles the fate of the Kawashima family, who are forcibly uprooted from their lovely Vancouver home and successful business by the Canadian government and sent to a backwater mining camp deep in the province's interior to live until the war ended. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kawashima were Japanese immigrants, but their two children were born in Canada. Mr. Kawashima is also a WWI veteran who fought with the Canadian army so the government's suspicious and insensitive treatment of his family comes as quite a shock. They, and the 400 other "enemy" guests of the mining town, are all city dwellers are also shocked by the primitive living conditions. The townsfolk are uniformly ignorant and unsophisticated. They too have trouble adjusting to their visitors and for a while racial tensions run high. Aya Kawashima, the eldest child, gets a job working as a housekeeper for her neighbors Peg and Ed Parnham. She also helps out with their two daughters. Ed is pretty friendly and open minded about the Japanese, but Peg is at first nervous around Aya and treats her like a maid. Eventually they become real friends and this is an important part of the story. As time passes the Japanese and the townsfolk begin to intermingle and young romances bloom. Things are looking up until the Kawashima's learn that the government they have supported and staunchly believed in, sold their house and business without consulting them.