The Officers Camp tells the story of Caro, a young officer from Florence, and his companions from the time of their capture by the advancing Germany army in the summer of 1943 until their release from a work camp almost two years later. These men seem to have stumbled into their fate: captured and transported to Germany, their lives seem almost dreamlike, and nothing stands out, except when someone is killed or disappears, or starves to death.

As the months of imprisonment mount and the officers are moved farther away from their homeland - and into smaller and increasingly poorly run camps - they are reduced to mere shells of humanity, their hope preserved only by intense discussions of food and the swapping of elaborate "recipes."