Retreating from the Russian front after the failure to take Moscow in 1944, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) is granted a three-week furlough. He returns to his home village for the first time since he left two years before and is shocked to learn that his parents are among the thousands left dead or missing by the Allied bombing raids. Then he falls for the beautiful Elizabeth Kruse (Lilo Pulver), and the two attempt to begin a romance amidst the devastation and despair of the war.