In 1942, Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King ordered all Japanese people relocated to "protective areas" such as New Denver, British Columbia. A scene from the film The War Between Us shows a family of Japanese descent hearing they must register with the Canadian government. Archival footage is the background for a discussion of efforts made by Japanese-Canadians to win full Canadian citizenship and the right to vote.

Mieko Ouchi is half Celtic, half Japanese... and all Canadian. In 1993, Mieko, an actor, began researching a documentary about her grandfather, Edward Ouchi, a Japanese immigrant to Canada. Then she was cast to star in The War Between Us, a film on the World War II internment of 22,000 Japanese-Canadians--re-enacting a key episode in her own community's history. Part Japanese-Canadian history, part autobiography and family chronicle, Shepherd's Pie and Sushi looks at complex questions of personal and cultural identity with a light touch. Using archival material, dramatic re-enactment, powerful scenes from The War Between Us and moving interviews with members of the Ouchi family, the film relates the early history of Japanese-Canadians and looks at Mieko's and her family's struggles with their own identities.