April, 1945. Only a few weeks before the end of World War II, having escaped the massive bombing taking place throughout Germany, sixteen year-old Albert and his mother finally make their way to the relative safety of a small Bavarian town. Albert soon becomes friends with the slightly older Walter, who is in the midst of a secret affair with his widowed 29-year-old teacher Elfie. Walter’s father, the local chairman of the National Socialist Party, reports Elfie to the police in order to end the love affair. Shortly thereafter, Hitler’s army begins mobilizing their last troops and Albert and his new friends are recruited to help defend the area’s one main bridge.