By every measure of what is right and good in World War II Germany, handsome Carl Becker should be on top of the world. Just like any teenage boy, a powerful urge to fit in drove Carl's desires to join the Hitler Youth. Too bad his vociferous, Nazi hating father didn't agree. War seems remote until his friends join the local Meihern Hitler Youth meetings on Sunday mornings. Choosing between God and Hitler is never an option for his abusive father who is a devout Bavarian Catholic. Carl fights a battle of wills with his father and of fists with former friends. Beaten daily on the playground, Carl faces the switch when he returns home. In Nazi Germany, adolescents scramble to prove their loyalty. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that his father's critical remarks about Hitler merited a visit by the SS Black Boots. Imprisoned in the Esterwegen punishment camp, Carl endures six unbearable weeks, surviving physical trials proven to break a man's body and spirit. He leaves a stronger man. Little Marie, a friend's pesky sister, soon works her way into Carl's heart and the two become inseparable. For a short time, life seems tolerable. Desperate times in the Nazi war effort assures high military induction numbers, even taking young men fresh from Esterwegen Camp. For a short time, life seems tolerable. However, in 1944, soon after his seventeenth birthday, Carl is drafted into the Waffen SS. Soon he is sent to his first assignment, the Russian Front. His unit is sent from one impossible battle to another. With casualties expected to reach fifty percent. Doctors tattoo Carl's blood type on his arm. Positioned to hold off the advancing Russians, Carl suffers a grenade explosion as he answers nature's call. While drifting in and out of consciousness inside a military hospital, he learns half his jaw is blown away. At first, his wounds seem so serious, necessary care is withheld. Carl needs time to heal, but the war ends. Victorious British soldiers soon occupy the hospital. Suspicious of Carl's uniform, they place him under arrest and hold him for potential war crime prosecution. His captors deny Carl food and water. Weak from eating grass and drinking from puddles, Carl sets off for the uncertainties at home. Will his family accept him? What about Marie?