Des Alwi tells of his childhood on the eastern Indonesian island of Banda, where he was befriended and adopted by the two nationalist leaders, Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, exiled there by the Dutch colonial regime. He describes his experiences on Banda and Java during the Japanese Occupation and his involvement in the underground struggle for Independence.

Des Alwi tells of his childhood on the eastern Indonesian island of Banda, where he was befriended and adopted by the two nationalist leaders, Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir, exiled there by the Dutch colonial regime. He describes his experiences on Banda and Java during the Japanese Occupation and his involvement in the underground struggle for Independence.