The novel begins in the final days of Nazi Germany with Hitler sheltering in his bunker. Adolf Hitler officially commits suicide along with Eva Braun. However, after Eva kills herself, a pre-selected double takes Hitler's place and is disposed of along with Braun in the Chancellery yard for the Russians to find. The real Hitler escapes the bunker along with Colonel Günther Brumm, a German commando officer and together with a rag tag team, escape Berlin. It is also revealed that Hitler never in fact had Parkinson's disease, but was injecting himself with a substance to make his hand tremble and thus give others the appearance that he was a sick man. In reality, Hitler had kept himself in good physical condition and had been planning his escape after the war for nearly a year.