I Will Find the Golden River offers the unique perspective of a young man, Dietz Heller, coming of age in Germany before and during WWII. Although not a Nazi, he struggled to make sense of the new Nazi leadership. This is also the story of two childhood best friends, their vow not to listen to Nazi propaganda, and their fight for freedom. Dietz Heller was a German boy growing up in Nazi Germany in a home without a father present. He volunteered to go into the army during WWII to fulfill part of the mandatory time in the army. His family members were not Nazis. His grandmother was American. They did not expect the war to last very long because there was not fighting anymore. Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and France had already been conquered. Then Hitler made a fatal mistake and attacked Russia, breaking a non-aggression pact which Germany hailed after it was signed. Dietz was furious about the decision but he was sent to Russia as an army radio operator. He thought that this way he would not have to kill anyone. The hardships of the war in Russia would test him physically and mentally.