In 1944, Allied prisoners at a Prisoner-of-war camp on an unnamed Greek island are forced to excavate ancient artifacts. The camp Commandant, Major Otto Hecht, a former Austrian antiques dealer, is sending some of the valuable pieces to his sister living in Switzerland. However the prisoners have discovered that they will be sent to other camps once the finds run out, so they arrange to keep "discovering" the same pieces. While Hecht is content to sit out the war, the Schutzstaffel Commandant of the nearby town, Major Volkmann, brutally enforces discipline, including reprisal executions of civilians.