Beatrice, a young Irish Protestant lace maker, finds herself whisked away from her humdrum life by a mysterious countess to join the Berlin household of the aristocratic couple the Metzenburgs. But as Beatrice is introduced to the highly rarified world of affluence and art collecting, the greater drama of Germany's aggression begins to overshadow it. Retreating with Beatrice to their country estate, the Metzenburgs do their best to ignore the encroaching war, until the realities of hunger and illness, as well as the even graver dangers of Nazi terror--the deportation and murder of Jews, hordes of refugees fleeing the advancing Red Army--begin to threaten their very existence. While the Metzenburgs become the virtual lord and lady of a growing population of men and women in hiding, Beatrice, increasingly attached to the family and its unlikely wartime community, bears heartrending witness to the atrocities of the age.