Frozen Tears unfolds the events that led to Germany's military invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and explores Germany's advance on Leningrad and the blockade that was established against the city. This story examines the lives of the city's inhabitants who suffered from the consequences of the siege that finally ended in 1944. By this time more than one million Leningraders had lost their lives.

The lives of public figures are often used by historians to tell the events of the past. The decisions they made and the actions that were taken are discussed and analyzed. However, the experiences of commoners-men, women, and children not mentioned in textbooks-often illustrate better the events of the past. In Frozen Tears, Albert Pleysier has taken the contents of diaries, letters, essays, and interviews written or given by persons who lived in Leningrad during the siege and placed them in their historical setting. The result is a very personal history of the siege of Leningrad.