Nathan is a young, impressionable boy who is saved from the Nazis by Catholic gentiles in his homeland, Holland. But in order to survive he must learn to be a good Catholic and undergo baptism. From there it is only a small leap to begin his studies in the Catholic priesthood.
By the time he is fifteen, Nathan learns of his parent's conversion to Catholicism. While studying to be a priest, Nathan confronts a notorious Jew-hating priest and realizes that he cannot represent a religion nurtured from the seeds of anti-Semitism. After his father's death he leaves the Catholic boarding school to fulfil his army duty and then begins the study of law.
Becoming a member of the Dutch Zionist Students Union helps Nathan further identify with his Jewish roots, and he decides to return to the Jewish tradition. He marries a Jewish woman, but the traumas he has undergone begin to insidiously destroy his ability to love and be loved. When he immigrates to Israel with his wife he makes a momentous decision: he will take on the obligations and practices of an Orthodox Jew.