Two teenage boys. Two very different futures. One hundred years apart. After his father is killed in a boating accident, 13-year-old Sonny and his family move to the seaside town where his Gran lives in a nursing home after accidentally setting her house on fire. In an attempt to fit in at school, Sonny becomes involved with a group of wayward local boys. Gran’s derelict house is ripe for exploring, especially as a place for Sonny to escape to, and here he finds a hidden blood-stained diary: the diary of Jack Baker, who joined the army at age fifteen, in 1915. Sonny becomes engrossed in Jack’s story while his own life runs along parallel lines – both boys become involved in situations they are not quite ready to handle. Jack’s experiences at the Somme and Passchendaele tell the heartbreaking story of underage soldiers in the First World War, a story which ultimately helps Sonny to come to terms with his own personal tragedy and the preciousness of his future.