The author left the prison camp where he had been held when the Italians made peace in 1943 He went to ground in the high mountains and forests south of the River Po, and for over three months was given shelter and protection by the Italian peasants The reactions of a sensitive man to being out of the war while still in the middle of it make an exciting read - full of the dangers of a nearby German army, the love of a local girl, and the courage and skill of his friends