A typical Saturday morning. Typical in all but two respects: One the result of an unfortunate accident earlier in the week; the other the result of two murders, which, it would appear, took place that very morning. It is the murders that will turn this day into anything but typical and, without question, make it radically different than any previous Saturday in the lives of Max and Mattie Jaeger. The murders are unconnected in any way to Max and Mattie but will nonetheless alter the course of their lives at a time in their lives when everything seems settled. The murders will involve them in a quest for a fortune buried in Swiss vaults more than half a century ago and, more vital, entrust to them the safety and care of two precious adolescent girls. Girls, who might, in some other existence, be their grandchildren were it not for a terrible accident on a lonely stretch of highway in a winter storm. This seemingly senseless act of murder on the mountain brings Max and Mattie face to face with the great tragedy of an earlier generation—a tragedy directed by a tyrant whose campaign for racial purity led to unbelievable horrors. The horrors of The Holocaust.