Paul Leeburg and Erich Reitzer are two Austrians who grew up as friends. Outwardly they are similar, but inwardly they differ and this shows in their attitude to the war, when they are called to serve in the German Wehrmacht. On a patrol through the woods in Northern France, in 1940, their friendship ends, but their paths cross again in Italy in 1944. Paul Leeburg's war leaves him with a lapse of memory and a burning question of guilt - is he a murderer or not? The only person who can help him is his former friend, now believed to be hiding in Switzerland.