A harrowing year of Southeast Asia behind him, Ernest Michelle Deslatte reports to his new duty station at The Federal Republic of Germany. The soldier from the Acadiana region of Louisiana arrives suffering the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a malady considered of little significance in 1970 and one borne by veterans of the Vietnam War as the price of having survived. He struggles with those cerebral wounds as he acclimates to garrison duty in a cold war environment and as he enthusiastically immerses himself into the local Germanic culture. Two young West German women, Monica Ingles and Helena Wald, take interest in him. They introduce him to their society and develop emotional ties to the romantic and mischievous Cajun soldier. They also draw him deep into their world of dangerous, political ideological intrigue.