In the midst of World War I, the people in a small Pacific Northwest town are tired, confused and careful. When a strange teacher with unconventional methods arrives in town to teach them a strange new game called basketball, they react with suspicion followed by enthusiasm. Along with the daily opera lesson he gives, he offers basketball as a metaphor for life, with its focus on the necessity of teamwork. The schoolyard transforms from playground to social battleground when two young German immigrants arrive in town. Helmut and Brigitta face discrimination in country at war with their native land. Despite their innocence, and personal loss due to the war, they are targets of ridicule. Caught at center of the community's unease with the new immigrants, is the sympathetic farmer's wife, Bessie Emery. As tension in the community escalates, Conlon enters his students in a professional basketball game. As the game unfolds, triumph over hate, charts a course for the future.