Sally Perry, known as "Sally", lives in Germany as the son of Jewish parents. After the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, his parents, who are originally from Poland, decide to return to ?ód? to escape the pogroms and discrimination. After Germany invades Poland in 1939, Sally and his brothers are sent in the direction of the Soviet Union, but they are separated while fleeing. Sally learns Russian in an orphanage in Grodno and, after the German attack on the Soviet Union, is forced to flee again, where he is picked up by German soldiers. Since he speaks fluent German, he passes himself off as a "Volksdeutscher" (ethnic German) by the name of Josef Peters and is taken in by the soldiers. He is able to work as an interpreter and quickly becomes popular. After a number of dangerous situations, searching for his family and his first experiences of love, Sally surrenders to Soviet soldiers during a battle and meets one of his brothers again in captivity. In the end, only Sally and his brothers Isaak and David survived. His parents and sister were victims of the Holocaust.