Rangoon, Burma: Two people meet by chance in a Buddhist temple; Mikey Zakharkin of the American Volunteer Group – The Flying Tigers – and Hannah, an English girl. It is a hard time to embark upon a friendship. Christmas 1941.

The talk in the city is of the Japanese attacks throughout the Asia-Pacific. Many refuse to believe they will cross the Thai border and invade. The British are rushing troops to bolster the weak defences, but ill-prepared, ill-equipped, and woefully few. In the sky, the P40 Tomahawks of the Flying Tigers prepare for battle. The stage is set.

For Mikey and Hannah, and for all those around them, relationships will be tested to destruction; not just in the ensuing conflict, but in the wars it will unleash. In the violent turmoil of a world convulsing into new patterns, how can friendship survive?

Enchanted by the encounter between the two young people, a mysterious Chinese Colonel tells them the fable of The Moon Tree.