It is 1899 in the Meiji era, a tumultuous time in Japan's history. Ueme, the daughter of a prominent Japanese family, longs for childhood days when months were counted in hours and the ends were unseen. Now monumental change awaits her-change she never asked for or wanted. Forced to immigrate four thousand miles away to Hawaii from her home in the Kumamoto Prefecture after her mother dies, Ueme is displaced from her heritage and propelled into an arranged marriage far below her status without any resources to help her. Now an indentured laborer in a foreign land, she must face severe prejudice and anguish as she struggles to survive, overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and find her way. As she and the other Nihonji women begin to boldly transform their lives and not follow detrimental traditions, Ueme bravely walks into what she can only hope is a brighter future. In this poignant historical tale set in the turbulent Meiji era in Japan and the sugarcane fields of Hawaii, a young Japanese immigrant must find a way to rise above a destructive marriage and life as an indentured laborer in a foreign land.