- The years on the sugar beet farm are barely real to Naomi. She hears that Grandpa Nakane died the day before they left Slocan, and the last letter they receive from her sick father is about a suspicious doctor.
- The sadness doesn't stop there. In the summer it's so hot that Naomi gets dizzy. Sometimes she hides in the root cellar, but the stench of rotting potatoes is unbearable.
- The students at the new school make fun of Naomi and Stephen. All of the Japanese children are given short names, because their names are too difficult to pronounce. Math is easier at the new school. Spelling is harder.
- Stephen starts to play music again, and it looks like he's developing a gaggle of groupies. For two years in a row he wins second place on the radio talent show. People are proud of him. Naomi, on the other hand, is a disappointment.
- On Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, the family travels seventy miles to visit Nakayama-sensei. Some days Nakayama-sensei comes to visit, riding on his bicycle along the dirt path. He even works in the fields with them sometimes.