The year is 1948. The Soviets have blockaded Berlin, attempting to force the Western
powers out of the city. The Airlift, the Allied attempt to keep the city alive, is barely two
months old – and it is failing badly.

Into the blockaded city comes Kevin Riley, chief foreign correspondent for the American
News Service. He has not been in Berlin since 1934, when he was expelled by the new Nazi
government. He’s come back now at the request of an old friend from that time – who is
now a condemned Nazi war criminal about to be hanged for his crimes.

The war has been over for more than three years. The world has grown weary of the endless
trials, has become numb to the endless stream of horror stories and pictures and films of the
Nazi atrocities. Indeed, it is believed by many that Kevin’s friend Ernst von Helldorf will be
the last to pay with his life for his actions during the Nazi era. There are even those who
believe he should not be hanged, at all.

But Kevin has come back only partly because of Ernst. He’s also come back to face the
ghosts and monsters of his own past, ghosts and monsters that have pursued him since he
left Berlin, pursued him from war zone to war zone since 1934 and who have now, finally,
brought him back full circle to where it began.