Something strange is happening at Whippoorwill Corners. Runaway Jeep Harris has come to make his home on a ranch in the sparsely populated plains of western Oklahoma, but finds Whippoorwill School a really big challenge what with kids wearing out-of-date clothes and playing games like Red Rover that he never heard of before. And then there's Mae Kelley, a nerd if he ever saw one, who keeps worrying about her brother who is on a ship in a place called Pearl Harbor. War breaks out, so the other kids tell him, and with Japan! His newly claimed aunt and uncle accuse him of skipping school even though Jeep has been in faithful attendance at Whippoorwill School each day. They scoff at his excuse, telling him the old school has been closed for years. Caught between today and yesterday, Jeep keeps his own secrets as the boy who belongs nowhere finds out if there is a place for him in this Oklahoma community.