Nine-year-old Michiko Minagawa bids her father goodbye before her birthday celebration. She doesn't know the government has ordered all Japanese-born men out of the province. Ten days later, her family joins hundreds of Japanese-Canadians on a train to the interior of British Columbia. Even though her aunt Sadie jokes about it, they have truly reached the "Land of No." There are no paved roads, no streetlights and no streetcars. The house in which they are to live is dirty and drafty. Michiko is puzzled and angry as to why her mother expects her to be grateful for this vacation.