Stefan and Marek, two men bound together by blood and their Polish homeland, are divided by a hatred sown since birth. Stefan, the illegitimate outcast, has lived a harsh and difficult life on the Essex Marshes: Marek, diffident and intellectual, has been brought up in easy and affluent London. It is only with the outbreak of war, when Hitler determines to destroy Pland, that their lives change. As the war rages around them- Stefan, a hero of the Polish partisan movement and Marek engaged on a secret mission to gain intelligence on German weaponry- they are constantly thrown together, yet still the bitter past is a source of discourse. Danusia, Stefan's lover and fellow-freedom fighter, is startled by their emnity. She is also aware of the similarities; perceiving strength where one man sees weakness, courage where the other sees cowardice and sensitivity in the place of savagery, she finds herself drawn to both men. Yet it is the quieter Marek in whom she confides a secret that could endanger the lives of them all- and destroy the cause for which an entire country is fighting...