Stationed in a small, Bohemian town somewhere between Prague and Dresden in the final days of the Second World War, Officer Franz Kern and Bertha Sommer long for escape. But the road to freedom is fraught with danger. If they are caught deserting their own side they will be executed; if they stay, their lives will be worth little in the hands of the Red Army soldiers that advance on them daily. Decades later, a young American living in Germany sets out on a self-appointed mission. His task is to discover the location of the last shot fired in the war. As he delves deeper and deeper into the past, he finds himself being drawn into the story of Bertha and Franz's daring escape, and the surprising discoveries that follow.