Howard W. Campbell Jr., an American writer living in pre-World War II Germany, is pressed into service by the U.S. government on a top secret assignment. His mission: to assume the role of a Nazi sympathizer. With his true purpose known by only a few, Campbell becomes a prominent spokesman for the Nazis' anti-American and anti-semitic agenda, gaining celebrity in Germany and infamy in the States. Campbell's nightmarish misadventures continue when, years after the war, he is suddenly recognized as the infamous Howard W. Campbell. All at once, he is persecuted by outraged Holocaust survivors, pursued by the U.S. authorities as a traitor, and embraced by neo-Nazis and white supremacists who feel nostalgia for the "good old days." Ultimately, Campbell is imprisoned in Israel and ordered to stand trial as a Nazi war criminal. During his incarceration, he struggles with own uncertainty as to whether he actually a hero, a villain, or both.