When the Nazis invade his home in Salonika, Greece, a German officer offers eleven-year-old Nico Krispis a chance to save his family. Nico must convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading 'north', where safety and protection awaits. But when the final train is loaded, Nico sees his family being herded into a boxcar. Only then does he realise that he has helped send them, and everyone he knew, to their doom at Auschwitz. Nico escapes but he never tells the truth again.
In The Little Liar, Nico's story is interweaved with those of his family, friends and even the Nazi officer who changed their lives. Through the war years and the decades that follow, Albom reveals the consequences of their decisions, eventually bringing them back to where it all started.