Helmuth, a boy who stood against the Nazis, helped his friends Karl-Heinz Schnibbe and Rudi Wobbe survive the invasion of Hitler and the genocide of the Jews. In Berlin, Germany, Helmuth, with help from his brother Gerhard and his present to him had spied on the actions of the Nazis. While Helmuth was a spy, he was caught and was put in prison. While he was in prison the author, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, perfectly flashes back to before Helmuth was imprisoned in his childhood.