The movie deals with the retelling of the experiences in WW II of the father of the director: Don Smith, the protagonist. Four 19-year-old Americans are drafted for military service in 1944 and are shipped to Europe to fight there. They have order to fight against the retreating german soldiers. Nobody had guessed that with temperatures below 0°C and new snow the germans had planned a counterattack: the battle of the bulge. When the troops encounter the 11. tank division of the germans, it is up to Don Smith to run back and alert the other troops, despite the cold and being wounded. Later, Smith is being brought to the german-czech border and is able to prevent a comrade to shoot a german captive. Instead, his comrade commits suicide. Don Smith finds a letter of him that he is able to translate after the war with the help of a german immigrant, getting to know the tragic story of the jewish family in germany of said soldier.