Early in 1945, as the Allies pounded toward the German heartland, the German army methodically destroyed all the bridges across the Rhine to delay the Allied advance. But the demolition effort at Remagen failed, making that bridge the most important one in the world, a breach in the German wall.

Doke Stanton, private in the U.S. Army, is captured on a reconnaissance mission, but escapes when the truck carrying him is strafed. On the run, he meets Ilse, a crippled governess, who hides him in a castle above the bridge at Remagen.