In the Fall of 1918 it became clear the Polish-Ukrainian ethnic borderlands would become a battlefield for the two nations. Both wanted to incorporate the disputed territory.

On November 1st 1918, Ukrainian conspirators managed a successful military and political coup, taking control of Lviv with hardly any bloodshed. Several hours afterwards, Polish underground forces already began preparing a counterattack. A few days later, front lines stretched across the city. The fighting concluded on November 22nd with a Ukrainian retreat and an ethnic cleansing of the local Jewish population.

The events that took place in Lviv in November 1918 to this day remain at the epicenter of Polish-Ukrainian conflict. The book tackles the themes of this unrest and its symptoms, from the 1920s to present day.