High school student, Todd Bowden (played by Brad Renfro), is fascinated by Nazi Germany. He discovers that a former SS war criminal, Kurt Dussander (played by Ian McKellen) is secretly living in his home town. Todd confronts Dussander and in exchange for his silence, blackmails Dussander into describing the atrocities he committed in the death camps during the Holocaust. As the accounts unfold, Todd finds himself becoming more obsessed and, in the process, becomes even more corrupt than Dussander.