Amber Willenborg

In the brief period of peace after a terrible war on a far future Earth, an outer-space military academy is attacked by an unknown and unstoppable alien force. The commander, along with a group of newly graduated cadets, escapes to a large research station. Pursued by the aliens, the station jumps through a mysterious hyperspace gateway that sends them to a planet in an unknown part of the universe.

In 1918, when the wheat-farming townspeople of Waterville, Washington, welcome home their first wounded son from World War I, they're struck by war's harsh reality. As bigotry and hatred toward two German orphans divide the close-knit community, new schoolteacher Martin rolls into town with some strange ideas and an even stranger leather ball, striving to bring harmony to the town before it tears itself apart.