In post-war England, journalist Stephen Underwood is keen to prove his worth. Working for a local newspaper he spends his days covering weddings and funerals while always on the lookout for a story that will catapult him into the big league. When he comes across the suicide of a Polish soldier from a nearby Displaced Persons Camp his journalistic instincts kick in, sensing something isn’t quite right, and his first port of call is to question Colonel Janusz Pietrowski, a Liaison Officer for the re-settlement of Polish troops under British command. Their meeting leaves Stephen unsettled – something just doesn’t quite ring true.
Stephen’s lover is Jeanette Mitchell, a Junior Commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service working under Captain John Underwood, Stephen’s brother. Trapped in a marriage of convenience with a military intelligence officer, she shares Stephen’s dream of escape. It is during one of their clandestine meetings that Stephen witnesses a confrontation between a local farmer and Michael Loboda, a new arrival at the Camp, during which Loboda lets slip that he is Russian... not Polish.
Sensing a twist, Stephen questions Loboda to find out why he is posing as a Polish refugee. Loboda reacts aggressively but tries to give nothing further away. Later, unbeknownst to Loboda, Stephen discovers he is hiding a small cash-box containing a blood stained diary...
From here, Stephen’s investigation escalates as he finds himself embroiled in a dangerous, multi-layered conspiracy concerning the execution of 22,000 Polish military and civilians by Stalin’s secret police.
This is a fictional re-imagining of a bloody, heart-breaking, true tale. One that has been covered up for far too long.
