Peter Ravitch is the editor of a newspaper in a small Yugoslav village and the village's most educated resident. He is also a sentimentalist, romantic and dreamer. Despite not being a fighting man and despite his wife being pregnant, Peter takes his place alongside the other villagers in defending the village against Nazi invaders. The villagers' plan of hide and surprise attack with their rifles is no match against the Nazi machine guns. But a letter written by Peter Ravitch that evening to his unborn child - who he was certain would be a son - makes its miraculous journey from the hands of the dying educated man who fought for his village to the hands of its intended recipients, to who the words would be inspirational for a promising future.