Hamburg, 1947. Adam is a young British lawyer is posted to the destroyed city to assist in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals, an exhausting, soul-destroying and demoralising task. He falls in love with a German prostitute during a time of strict anti-fraternisation rules. Rose is beautiful, educated, clever, witty … and Adam becomes increasingly obsessed with her. Then a Nazi prisoner, responsible for the cold-blooded killing of hundreds of innocents, escapes while in Adam's custody. There is only one place for the desperate man to hide: in Hamburg's forbidden Dead Zone. And Adam is even more desperate to find him, no matter what the cost.