Set against the devastation of post-World War II Europe, Sunrise Shows Late is a love story about a young Polish Underground veteran, Manya Gerson, who flees anti-Jewish violence in her country for the safety of a displaced-persons camp in Allied-occupied Germany.

As she and others there, each with a harrowing past, struggle for emotional and physical survival, Manya meets Emmanuel Kozak, a Czech scientist who offers her a secure life in Paris, and Bolek Holzer, passionate and dangerous, who smuggles guns and DPs to Palestine and is committed to fight for an Israeli state.

Manya, falling in love with Bolek, sees him drawn into political intrigues, cross-border escapes, shootings and betrayals. All the while she and the other DPs in the camp search determinedly to find a future identity and direction for their shattered lives. Manya, who had promised herself she would never again live with fear and uncertainty, must choose between embarking on just such a life with the dashing Bolek or accepting the security that Emmanuel's love offers.