When Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are invited to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre, Harlan jumps at the opportunity. But after the City of Light falls under Nazi occupation, Harlan and Lizard are thrown into Buchenwald-- the notorious concentration camp in Weimar, Germany. Harlan survives five horrific years, and returns home struggling to overcome the chaos he has experienced.