Fifteen-year-old Michael Berg becomes ill on the way home from school. A woman takes care of him. The boy arrives at her home with a bunch of flowers to thank her. And then comes back again. Hanna is the first woman he has ever desired. But there is something harsh about her. His questions about her family and her life go unanswered. One day Hanna simply disappears. Michael's life goes on, but he can't forget her.

Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved so passionately is a criminal. Much about her behavior during the trial makes no sense. But then, suddenly and terribly, it does -- Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.

The past erupts into the present -- both his past with Hanna, and Germany's past. And Michael must accept the fact that he will never be fre