Thirteen-year-old Johnny Anders is something of a misfit, with no friends and a poor school record, but all this begins to change when he is awakened one night to find a soldier-ghost in his bedroom. Johnny is taken back to meet a series of unusual heroes in Canada's war history. These include Joan Bamford Fletcher, who commandeered Japanese soldiers to take hundreds of wounded civilians to safety through the jungles of Indonesia, and the much-decorated Raymond Collishaw, through whom Johnny learns that Canada played a role in the Russian Revolution. Even as he is making his discoveries, Johnny becomes close friends with Casey Collishaw, the great-granddaughter of Raymond Collishaw. Together the pair set about uncovering why it is that Johnny has been chosen to be a witness to Canadians at war.