The setting is vaguely near-future. 15-year-old Daisy is sent to live with her aunt in England due to family issues. While she is there and her aunt is abroad trying to negotiate peace, war breaks out. At first she and her cousins live a nearly idyllic existence without adults, and Daisy begins a romantic relationship with her cousin Edmond, but as the action of the war gets closer the family is broken up and violence and deprivation become the rule of the day. This short book is stark but there is also a bit of romance and hope in it as well. It's a really good book but wrenching, too.