Seventeen-year-old Paul Baldassara lies about his age to enlist in the Canadian Army. Seventeen-year-old Paul Baldassara lies about his age to enlist in the Canadian Army. He joins the Loyal Edmonton regiment, which is tasked with taking Italy's port town of Ortona. Little does he know the horrors of the battle that lie ahead . . .

Paul soon finds himself in the midst of the fierce fighting that earned Ortona the name "the Italian Stalingrad," because of the massive casualties and deaths. He and his fellow Canadian soldiers resort to tactics such as "mouse-holing" - blasting their way through the walls of houses which German snipers have made the streets and courtyards.

Will Paul prevail and help the Canadians free Ortona, no matter the risk?