Miserere is an account of World War II that focuses on the fate of Aleksey, a boy from the Volga region, as he and his beloved friends try to survive World War II and beyond. As the story begins, the Soviet government of the thirties has just confiscated most of the grain in the Volga region, leading to the death of around 1,000,000 people. When Aleksey's father is arrested and his family is starving, the boy seeks his best friend, Kurt. Aleksey is captured and put into a camp. The Warden notices the boy's bravery and character, so sends him to a special orphanage school. After graduation, he attends military school and becomes a spy. The fates of Kurt in Kazakhstan, of Ilse in Berlin, of his schoolmate Sasha in Finland, and of Lyubov, a beautiful visionary in Russia, are woven together into a rich tapestry.