In a bombed-out village, on the Western Front, Jude nurses the wounded in her cellar hospital. War is the making of her, and she records all she can, taking photographs of everything, capturing life in the midst of death. Survivor of a very different conflict, Daniel has come home from Ireland a haunted man. Signed up to the hated Black and Tans, he is disfigured by a campaign he fought in but didn't understand. A few years later an innocent photograph exposes an extraordinary tale. A chance snapshot, two soldiers sharing a cigarette, brings together Jude and Daniel and propels them on a strange journey.