War and Peace in Dodge

Middle America, the 1940s: a war begins and rages. Young Johnny Smith sees it all, from the opening salvos to the dramatic, explosive conclusion, the biggest family feud ever to hit the small town of Dodge. It splits apart not only a family, but a whole community, dividing east and west. As Johnny eagerly engages his nefarious double-aunt godmother Aunt Hilde, whom he labels "AH," (and who, he swears, has a mustache, small, squarish and black) under the auspices of first his Aunt Winnie, then his Uncle Frank and finally his own dad Harry, the stakes rise higher and higher. The war is for the unity of the family, and then the leadership of the town, with consequences far beyond, leading Johnny to search for hope and wonder whether or not they would even survive the darkness of those days. From the first Blitzkrieg to the Battle of Britain and Pearl Harbor, to the great responses of Operation Torch and Normandy, culminating in the Battle of the Bulge and the dropping of The Bomb, and more, the whole war of the family feud is seen and experienced by Johnny. While it parallels something far more historic and well-known, to 11-year-old Johnny it is home and family, so it is everything.