An East German youth attempts to join his parents who have escaped to West Berlin. The only escape route open to him is a train containing American travelers which must pass Russian Army checkpoints at the border town of Marienhorn. A young nurse hides the boy on the train, but word gets out there is a refuge aboard. The train is halted by Russian soldiers, who order the boy be produced before the train continues the journey. Cowan (Jose Ferrer) is the journalist who is decidedly unsympathetic to the plight of the Germans. Blaming them for the war and the conditions which now separate German friends and families in the wake of cold war policies, he soon risks his life to help the young boy escape to West Berlin.