At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, 14-year-old Fay Howe lives with her father, the lighthouse keeper on bleak Breaksea Island. Fay knows semaphore and Morse code and responds when the soldiers on the warships signal to her. The soldiers send Fay messages for their loved ones, which she relays for them. After the soldiers depart for the battlefields of Egypt and Gallipoli, Fay continues her conversations with them through letters and postcards. This story uses archival material as source material and interweaves fact with fiction. This story highlights the hardships of those left at home during the war.