Just days after the end of World War II, German soldier Hans Schnitzler returns to a bombed German city, carrying a dead comrade's coat to his widow-not knowing that the coat contains a will. Soon Hans is caught in a dangerous intrigue involving the will he also begins a tentative romance with another grieving woman, as together they seek an identity and a future together in the ruined city.

Heinrich Boll's first book, The Silent Angel was suppressed for over 41 years, because it was originally judged too strong for German readers still suffering from the ravages of war.