On January 1, 1932, Salomé sends Shepherd to live in Washington, DC, with his father. On January 7, Shepherd arrives to a cool reception from his father, a government bureaucrat. By January 17, Shepherd has been sent to the Potomac Academy in Alexandria, Maryland, a military boarding school. While he is unhappy there, he becomes friends with a boy, Billy “Bull’s Eye” Boorzai, who does odd jobs while attending school part-time. Shepherd begins to tag along with Bull’s Eye on his errands.

During the Easter Break, Shepherd goes to the Smithsonian Museum on the Washington Mall. There, they see the “Bonus Expeditionary Encampment,” where hundreds of veterans and their families are living to demand they get their pension for having served in World War I, which the government is denying them. Millions of Americans are living in dire poverty because of the Great Depression. On July 16, Shepherd goes with Bull’s Eye to the Bonus Army encampment to see Bull’s Eye’s cousin, Angelino, who lives there with his wife and infant child. Shepherd is struck by their poverty. On July 28, national forces led by Major Patton and General MacArthur attack the encampment to drive the Bonus Army out of the city while Shepherd and Bull’s Eye are there.