Mike Owen has a secret reason for enrolling in Oxford in 1913.He is an agent for the CEO of Standard Oil of New York: Mr. Henry Folger is interested in both petroleum AND Shakespeare. Mike knows that he can easily handle the academic side of Oxford. But he is determined to take care of the social side of Oxford-and that includes the girls. Suddenly war breaks out-just when Mike is enjoying himself in Berlin as a guest of his classmate Fabian Brandt. (From Fabian's pilot brother Mike has learned how to fly an airplane!) He finds himself trapped on the German side; America is neutral. When Wilson finally declares war in 1917, Mike is in German-occupied Jerusalem-an enemy alien and a prisoner of war. By 1918 the Germans feel forced to kill the prisoners and retreat. His only hope of escape is to steal (!) an airplane and fly it to the British base in faraway Cairo. He thinks to himself: do I have the balls to risk an attempt which has a one per cent chance of success?