In December 1937, in the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the city of Nanking and within weeks not only looted and burned the city but systematically raped, tortured, and murdered more than 300,000 Chinese civilians. The story is told from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers who performed it; of the Chinese civilians who endured it; and finally of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese.