At 16, into the war. Silesia 1945: Watchmaker apprentice Anton Köhler would rather hold a violin than a weapon. But as the Red Army draws ever closer to his hometown around New Year's 1945, he is conscripted along with his peers as a Wehrmacht helper and eventually led out of Wrocław. For Anton and his best friend Gerhard, a long and dangerous journey begins, confronting them with enemy air raids and the cruelty of their own countrymen. But Anton is determined to see his family again. When they are also to be sent to the front, he makes the decision to flee... A historical coming-of-age novel about growing up in one of the darkest times in German history, about loss and hope, friendship and love.