Umbria 1943. Nazi troops are massacring whole villages in retaliation for help being given to even a single fugitive. Outside a pretty country town is a prison camp of six hundred British, Commonwealth and American soldiers seething with hatred for Italians.

When young widow Lucia does a deal with FitzGerald, all six hundred escape into the hills or make their way out of Nazi occupied Italy. FitzGerald himself moves from farm to farm until his contempt for Italians turns into admiration for the impoverished people who risk everything to succour a stranger. He sees in the women, children and old people left on the farms, a courage greater than that of soldiers. Instead of taking up arms again, he shepherds the villagers as they fly from extermination.

But can he, and his rescuer, escape To the River, the border between two armies?