A car crash results in the death of the parents of Bob Shelburne, an uncomplicated young man from Des Moines, Iowa. Returning to his childhood home, Bob discovers documents which completely alter his prosaic life and family history. A journal written by his grandmother reveals family secrets, as well as details of her experiences as a young woman in Nazi Germany. Accompanying the journal is a letter to his grandmother that discloses the information that her brother, Ken Hochster, was the American M.P. who was paid by the Nazis to provide Goering with the cyanide capsules in his jail cell at Nuremberg. The letter also indicates how Hochster was paid—with a great amount of money and five Nazi-confiscated art masterpieces, which were placed in a safe-deposit box in Switzerland. Inside a separate envelope are Hochster’s will and a safe-deposit box key.