Mother Night is a first-person narrative accounting the events in the life of Howard W. Campbell, Jr., who was a spy during WWII. Campbell is an American by birth, but made a name for himself as a writer in Germany. When World War II breaks out, Campbell chooses to stay behind in Germany and gets recruited by the Nazis to spread their propaganda, and he gets recruited by the United States to be a spy and send out messages through his propaganda. He is eventually put on trial in Israel for war crimes due to his participation during the war. This is the story of how a well-intentioned man recruited as an American spy becomes regarded as one of the most notorious Nazi propaganda machines.