Hamburg, 1946. In the British Occupied Zone, thousands of Germans are wandering the rubble, lost and homeless and Colonel Lewis Morgan is charge with overseeing the rebuilding of their devastated city. He is stationed in a grand house on the River Elbe; his wife and their only surviving son will soon be joining him there. But when Lewis meets the German owners of the house, he cannot bring himself to throw them out into the streets. Instead, he insists that the two families live together. In this charged atmosphere, parents and children alike will be forced to confront their true selves as enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal, their deepest desires, their fiercest loyalties, and the transforming power of forgiveness.--From publisher's description