At the Battle School, there is only one purpose, only one curriculum: the strategy and tactics of war. Humanity is at war with an alien race and has been losing. The students are drawn from all nations, all races, all religions, taken from their families at the age of six or seven. There is no room for cultural differences, no room for religious observances, and certainly no room for Santa Claus. But the young warriors disagree. When Dink Meeker leaves a Sinterklaas Day gift in another Dutch student's shoe, that quiet act of rebellion becomes the first shot in a war of wills that the staff of the Battle School never bargained for.