But Paris is also a city that is holding its breath. The Nazi forces are slowly penetrating the Maginot Line, and the once indomitable city is now expecting the worst. Beneath Paris's blanket of fear and eerie calm, David Halifax realizes the true purpose of his visit: Pankratov is to train him in duplicating the masterworks of the Paris museums. With the aid of a wily art dealer, they barter the fakes to Hitler's legion of art students. What develops is a cat-and-mouse game through Paris's silent streets, in the tunnels beneath its museums, and eventually into the scorched countryside of Normandy.

In their frantic race to complete one last forgery, both David and Pankratov are forced to confront the terrible sacrifices one must finally make for art; a sacrifice of identity, and perhaps of the soul.