In the trenches of Loos and the Somme, two disaffected young subalterns, Munro and Tate, struggle to find humour and purpose in a rapidly disintegrating world; brothers unto death - with a firmer bond than anything in their real families. A world away, in another time and place, Katherine is startled when she starts to recover memories - someone else's memories - of the first world war trenches. These involuntary glimpses into the life of a lost soldier open up a visionary world and a search across the fields of northern Europe for the historical truth behind it. A powerful story - fused with many realities.