Jaap is the second-youngest son from a family of 11 children. The German war machine takes possession of his city, somewhere in West Brabant. He is taken to Germany by the German occupiers to be employed there. Barely seventeen years old, he is trained to be a motorcycle courier. He delivers messages from the Eastern Front to the French coast. He accompanies many convoys, drives ahead and closes streets when the convoy passes. Jaap learns that the war awakens the worst and the best in people, that there is good and evil on all sides of the battle. But above all, he learns to keep up hope.
This story is fictional, based on real-life experiences of people who lived through and survived the war. It indicates a number of shades of darkness that are rarely talked about, and are not included in history books. This is a story that must not be forgotten, now that more and more of those who have experienced it are passing away. It is a mirror to a past that literally is in the shadow of the truth!
