A story untold. Left in the dark. For seventy years. This novel tells that story, shines a light on that darkness. Our prisoners-of-war in Korea are truly the forgotten men of the forgotten war. The prisoner-of-war camps along the Yalu River saw half the prisoners die during the first winter. Then the Chinese began their efforts at “re-education.” The Chinese attempted to convince the prisoners of the decadence of capitalism and the glories of communism. Those "students" who failed to demonstrate the correct amount of enthusiasm were punished.

Swede is one who fights back. Only nineteen years old, he escapes three times and pays a price for each. He is starved and exposed to the freezing winter night while buckets of water are thrown on him. His guards beat him-and worse. Swede decides they might kill him, but he will never give up. Finally allowed to rejoin the main camp, he teaches others to resist, becoming one of the worst of the men the Chinese fear - the Reactionaries.

Swede escapes from his cell night after night to steal food and medicine for his fellow prisoners, each time returning before he is caught. He joins men like Earl Stoneman and Henry Page to convince other POWs to fight the Chinese efforts at poisoning their minds. He becomes involved with a B-29 the Chinese have captured and burns records the Chinese keep on the prisoners. When he is sentenced to a year in a penal camp, Swede continues to escape at night to help fellow prisoners being isolated and tortured. He saves a friend from certain death at the hands of the Tiger, a fanatical Korean who executes prisoners. In doing so, he buries another friend in secret.

Swede decides to continue the fight against this new enemy, even though he is still trying to understand what causes men to inflict such pain and suffering on their brothers.

Forgotten for seventy years. Now is their time to be remembered.