Near the Dutch border, people in the small German market town of Altgarten are aware of the war's progress but have not been bombed, unlike Cologne and other large cities in the heavily industrialized Ruhr. "Oberleutnant" August Bach commands a Freya radar unit on the Dutch coastline that tracks British bomber streams on their night-time raids against Germany. A highly decorated World War I veteran who voluntarily serves as a lower-ranked officer away from the front lines, he is a widower with an older son on the Eastern front. While briefly visiting his home in Altgarten, Bach proposes marriage to the young Faith and Beauty Society member who cares for his younger son.