April 1945. Hitler’s Reich is on the verge of extinction, and its enemies are already plotting against each other. Assaulted by Allied bombs and Soviet shells, ruled by Nazis with nothing to lose, Berlin has become the most dangerous place on earth.

On the Oder front line John Russell’s eighteen year-old son Paul awaits the Soviets’ final onslaught, and the certain prospect of either death or imprisonment. Inside Berlin, Russell’s girlfriend Effi has a Jewish orphan to care for, and the Gestapo on her trail. The advancing Red Army promises liberation, but is also seeking retribution, particularly from German women.

Russell is in Moscow. To find and save his son and girlfriend, he must reach Berlin no later than the Red Army. But only the Soviets can get him there, and the price of their help will threaten both his and the world’s postwar future.