The action starts in 1990 before arcing back to the wartime occupation of the Channel Islands. German officer Max von Luck is in charge of liaising with the civilian population, and has earned the respect of many of the locals. On the Western Front, the Allies have advanced to the Rhine. In the East, the Russians are poised to invade Germany. Hitler decides to destroy London with an ultra-secret weapon collaborators are building on Jersey. Back in the 1990s, workmen digging the foundation for a hotel complex fall sick, presenting symptoms similar to those suffered by many islanders since the war. Journalist Robert Lebonneur is suspicious. He finds a diary written by von Luck during the occupation. Lebonneur begins to run into the same dark forces that von Luck came up against nearly half a century earlier.