In 1947, severe food shortages threaten the lives of thousands of Europeans, but what can one thirteen-year-old boy do?
Jimmy Burns, an eighth-grader whose brother died fighting in France during World War II, wants to help, but doesn't know how. When he and his family learn about the Friendship Train, a national food collection for France and Italy, they're quick to respond. The family commitment turns Jimmy's world upside down, and he realizes his actions could determine whether or not the desperately hungry Europeans survive the winter.