We all have regrets, but some are worse than others.
Henri Hummel is pressured into the Nazi army, though he'd had misgivings about being part of a regime that invaded the country of his French mother and forced his Jewish friends onto trains bound for "work camps." He struggles to forgive himself for making that choice. When the Nazis surrender in North Africa, Henri is sent to a P.O.W. camp in Texas where he's targeted by ardent Nazis who terrorize "traitors to the Fatherland."
Birdie McCall hadn't thought much about her future until she found herself agreeing to wait for her high school sweetheart when he left for war. But she's had second thoughts, and now her future is all she thinks about. She wants a career, but canceling her engagement and convincing her family to pay for college seem insurmountable hurdles.
The two meet when Henri is working on her father's rice farm. Gradually their relationship deepens, but when Henri must flee to save his own life, they can only hope that the end of the war will bring them back together, and that those regrets don't come back to haunt them.