When Norwegian Max Manus returns to the German-occupied Norway from the winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1940, he joins the burgeoning resistance. He is one of the central figures of the resistance and soon has Gestapo officer Siegfried Fehmer as an adversary. Manus manages to evade arrest and flees to Scotland, where he joins the British Secret Service. There he is trained as a saboteur and soon commits attacks on German ships and installations in Norway. He survives the war, but is plagued by feelings of guilt as a survivor.