During the Second World War, a unit of the German army of occupation in France was troubled by partisan activity and decided on reprisals against the town of Oradour. As a result of that decision, the name of that small place is known around the world.In the novel, a former soldier, who was swept up by his unit against his will on that day, for he had a rendezvous with a woman with whom he intended to escape, nevertheless took part in the massacre; many years later, he returns to Oradour on a kind of pilgrimage of penance. The visit is oddly pleasurable and oddly disappointing–until he finds a physical clue that destroys his last hope that he can be innocent in his own eyes.