Isaac, based on a true story, follows the journey of a Polish teen-aged boy from. near-death to ultimate triumph. In parable-like prose, it captures Isaac's miraculous survival of the Nazi massacre of his family and fellow Poles and his escape into a vast, nightmarish European forest. After being saved by a gentile from near his village, Isaac joins a group of Russian partisans and becomes a demolition expert. He falls in love with a Russian partisan nurse while striving—even among the partisans—to hide his Jewish background. This is a coming-of-age story amid the horrors and passions of war that demonstrates how determination, love, and friendship can overpower the force of hatred, discrimination, and unthinkable loss.