An unnamed man is rescued during the end of WWI and taken to a German hospital. He has no memory of himself or his life. Gradually he takes up life as a German during their defeat and the terrible economic depression that followed it, finding a foster aunt and doing his best to make a living. Like many Germans, he is seduced by the promise of better days held out by Hitler and the Nazi party, and he rises to a position of power in the party and the government. Then comes the Reichstag fire, and his memory returns. He is not German at all; he is a British agent believed dead in the war. Now he must work to defeat the Nazis. An interesting look at Germany during this period, with touches of sardonic British humor.