Taking place during the Nazi aggression in Europe and continuing through the end of 1943, the bulk of the story occurs in Warsaw, Poland. The Germans defeat a weaker Polish army and occupy the country. Once entrenched, the Nazis begin the implementation of Berlin directives to "solve" the "Jewish problem" in Poland. Alex Brandel is a Zionist Jew who begins to write a journal, detailing Nazi activities, so that one day the world will know of the treatment and suffering of his people. He is assisted by other staunch Zionists, as well as less radical factions of the Jewish population, who ultimately become radicalized and convince him, as well, that armed resistance is the sole means of restoring Jewish honor and dignity in Poland. Several Aryans assist the Jews, both in their efforts to obtain food and other necessities and to organize escapes, as Nazis step up their efforts to confine Jews to a single section of Poland, deport them to concentration camps, and ultimately, to exterminate all who remain in the ghetto. Eventually, the various Jewish factions unite to engage in a military uprising against the Nazis, managing to defeat the most elite of German soldiers, by attacking them from rooftops and windows with homemade bottle and pipe bombs and a few guns.

Ultimately, the Nazis use bombers to destroy and set fire to the entire ghetto. The few remaining in an underground bunker determine that it is time to attempt escape through the sewer pipe system. he primary goal is to get Italian-American journalist, Chris De Monti, out safely, for only he knows the location of all of the buried journals and will return after to war to retrieve them. Twelve individuals eventually make it out of the sewer, to be picked up by two assisting Aryans and taken to the forests of the Polish countryside. From there, they are able to make their way to Sweden, where, as the novel ends, Chris De Monti awaits the end of the war.

Against this backdrop, there are three love stories. Deborah Bronski, a conservative Jew falls in love with Chris De Monti but ultimately dies in the ghetto. Andrei Androwski, Deborah's Zionist brother, and Gabriela Rak, Catholic sympathizer, are romantically involved, and Gabriela works to assist the ghetto residents in efforts to obtain supplies and to escape. Wolf Brandel, son of Alex, and Rachel Bronski, daughter of Deborah and Paul, are teens when the struggle begins but fall desperately in love. Both Wolf and Rachel are among the final 12 survivors who escape through the sewer pipe system.