Elsa Mostek is a young Jewish woman who is forced to move with her family from the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943. She immediately draws the attention of Nazi Officer Friedrich Weiss who inexplicably shows favor towards her and helps her escape harm many times thanks to the power he wields in the camp. Aware that many of her fellow female prisoners are bartering their bodies for survival and in desperation to save her starving family, Elsa makes an offer to Friedrich. What Elsa does not know is that Friedrich is a spy with the German Resistance that has infiltrated the Nazi regime. He must keep up the pretense of loyalty to Hitler's cause as he sends secrets to those on the outside. Friedrich doesn't want to take advantage of Elsa but can't help wanting her. As the misery of his position increases, she offers him the only light left in a world of darkness and despite his best intentions, Friedrich gives in to her offer. Passion explodes between them, giving them a reprieve from the monstrous world they inhabit, though both know it can never last.

Elsa Mostek Friedman has built a good life for herself and her daughter, Catherine. A life of privilege and wealth. It's a life that’s a far cry from her humble beginnings in a Polish village. It’s a life built on lies, because while she adores her husband, David, it’s another man who haunts her dreams. It’s another man her body yearns for: Catherine's father, the German Resistance spy Friedrich Weiss, who infiltrated the Nazi regime. Their love was forged in the horrors of Auschwitz and when Friedrich helped Elsa escape, it was to build the very life she has now. Now Friedrich has returned and Elsa is torn between her love for her husband and all the security he provides, and the love she has for Friedrich, who is still a hunted man. Elsa and Friedrich have no future, but passion explodes between them, hotter than ever. And for all their noble intentions, for all their fears of discovery, neither can stay away from the other. Elsa walks a knife-edge line between both men as she also tries to protect the secrets she’s kept for over six years. But there are others who know Elsa's secrets and they too have returned to make sure the carefully constructed world she’s built explodes in a rain of violence and vengeance that will only be appeased when everything Elsa holds dear is destroyed.