Marisa Carnarvon is an enigma to her family. In 1938 she turns her back on her family's money and status and leaves her comfortable pre-war Sydney lifestyle to become a nurse in a London city hospital. Against the backdrop of looming conflict, she moves to a Red Cross hospital in Paris in July 1939, totally unprepared for the challenge of life in an occupied city. In June 1940 the Germans invade Paris and the young nurse is soon pressured by the leader of the local resistance cell to work for the fledgling movement. Her life is further enmeshed by the arrival of a new Gestapo chief who sets out to seduce her. Marisa's position becomes increasingly precarious as the resistance hunts for a traitor in the organisation. Suspicion falls on one of the hospital's doctors and he is murdered, throwing Marisa into the resistance firing line. As the war approaches its climax, Marisa's Gestapo lover flees and the young nurse follows. He is ultimately revealed as a key operator in a resistance escape line that traverses four countries. But he has a secret which threatens to crush him. Marisa finally discovers the truth behind the man who risked his life to save others in a masterpiece of deception.