April 1945. The Russians are shelling what remains of the 9th army of the Wehrmacht. Obergefreiter Karl Meisner has survived five years of a war he didn't want, but now it seems he won't reach his 26th birthday. Taking on responsibility for one of the new young recruits gives Karl a reason to keep going – and soon their war is over, as they surrender to the Allies at Tangermünde. Eventually Karl is placed in a prison camp in England – and it's there that his life unexpectedly blooms. For it's there that Karl meets Nathaniel Cyfer – a sergeant in the British army and an expatriate German Jew.