This is a rare eyewitness account of the plight of both civilians and soldiers affected by the military operations in mud and freezing temperatures on the Eastern Front during WWII. It is a reflection on the brutality of war conducted by people who called themselves Christians. It records on an almost daily basis from 1941 to 1945, starting with the German offensive on Moscow, the Kursk offensive, the battles of Orel and Kirovograd, the retreat through the Ukraine, Rumania and Poland to the last defence in Czechoslovakia. It finally culminates with the narrator's imprisonment in a POW camp in Auschwitz. Hanna's husband Martin, is a simple man, a pacifist who through his observations reveals a profound understanding of what it should mean to be human. His world is not a world of war, but simply one to be shared with his beloved wife Hanna and their three children. As the story unfolds, one gets increasingly familiar with Martin and caught up in his epic odyssey covering four years on the Eastern front during WWII.