Thirty years after James Hamilton was forcibly migrated to New Zealand as an orphan child, an unexpected inheritance draws him back to Cornwall, where he stumbles on a long-dormant WWII secret concealed in the shared memory of the small fishing village he once considered home.
Mystery deepens when James begins clearing out the cottage he has inherited and uncovers a bundle of letters that imply the owner of the cottage, a retired lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy, participated in a clandestine operation that has remained suppressed in the core of the village and has direct links to James's true identity.
Determined to get to the truth of his past, James digs into the background and context of the letters he's found and it's more disturbing than he ever imagined. His attempts to unravel the past reveal a shadowy world of British Intelligence, the French Maquis and Nazi sympathisers within Allied ranks.
Against the backdrop of WWII exploits spanning North Africa and France, Operation Traction is a story of divided loyalties and extreme courage. A story of love, of deceit and of sacrifice.