In January, 1944 Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Lersen, Luftwaffe Field Division, having been wounded at Novgorod is posted as commander of Orvieto, Italy. The Allies are advancing up the peninsula and orders are to defend the city at any cost, and to pursue a scorched earth policy should there be a retreat. On diplomatic courtesy, Lersen invites Orvieto's bishop, monsignor Francesco Pieri, to a meeting. Both men speak Latin. Translators are not needed. They meet alone and discover interests in common, significantly the music of Bach. Pieri organizes organ concerts in the city's magnificent cathedral. Their meetings become regular. A friendship which supersedes political loyalties blossoms, survives crisis and challenge, and enables the declaration of Orvieto as an open city, thereby saving it from devastation in the fight that lies ahead.