A Czech expat soldier now living in Mexico recounts his part in WWII. He explains how he becomes involved in the assassination of Heydrich, the gauleiter of Prague, and thus contributed to the subsequent reprisal massacre of the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia. He was also a witness to the murder of the Czech foreign minister, Jan Masaryk, on the orders of Stalin. His subsequent, quick-witted action helped to reveal that the new communist government in Czechoslovakia lied when it proclaimed that Masaryk's death was a suicide.
Love and war, and their consequences, are the eternal themes that power this novel.
The storyteller's life and actions are based in truth.