In July 1943, a train carrying prisoners arrives in Hamburg, Germany under mysterious circumstances. Instead of being taken to a camp, they are brought to an SS barracks that has been transformed into something unnatural.
Symbols cover the floor, the air smells of blood and old smoke, and a colonel stands in the center holding a book that seems never meant to be touched by human hands.
As Operation Gomorrah begins that night, the bombings tear through the city and obliterate the barracks before anyone can understand what is happening. Days later, a child searching the ruins finds a strange book buried beneath the ash. His mother sets it aside with the firewood, believing it will help them survive the winter.
Unaware that the ritual was still waiting.