Torn from his roots. Stripped of everything dear: friends, family, country. Forced to survive the labyrinth of refugee camps in the cauldron of post-war Europe. The story follows the protagonist through two wars--WWII and the Cold War.

Tempered by the war and devastated by the loss of his best friend sent to the concentration camp by the town SS commander, young Jan Neuman finds himself fleeing his country when the government is deposed in a communist coup. In the ruins of post-war Germany, sewers of Paris, refugee camps of Italy, and ultimately America, he comes to realize that freedom can exact a terrible price.