After Tonight

With the outbreak of World War I, a young woman cannot purchase a train ticket from Luxembourg to Austria. Rudy Ritter, an Austrian officer, arranges for her to board a train to Bern, Switzerland. As the journey progresses, the train is stopped short of its destination, and she slips away, leaving Rudy without a name to call.

Rudy Ritter is a captain in the Austrian Ministry of War tasked with countering Russian espionage, with a focus on the elusive operative known as K-14. His work hinges on intercepted messages that hint at a newly improved flamethrower. The case pulls him deeper into the war's shadowy intelligence operations.

A lead about a revamped flamethrower brings Rudy under Major Lieber, who heads the unit developing the weapon. Lieber becomes his superior and guides his initial missions. Rudy's assignment tightens his link to the war's most advanced war tech.

Lieber introduces Rudy to Karen Schöntag, a nurse who was once his traveling companion. Rudy sees Karen nearly every night, and the two gradually fall in love. Their romance deepens while the spy hunt presses on around them.

As their relationship grows, suspicions about Karen's true loyalties begin to simmer in Rudy's mind. She narrowly escapes capture by Rudy and his men, keeping her secret intact for the moment. The tension between love and duty tests both of them.

Karen visits a staircase that Russian agents use to transfer messages and is brought in for questioning. Rudy, convinced of her innocence, chooses not to search her thoroughly, allowing the moment to pass without proof of treachery. The missed opportunity deepens the fragility of their trust.

Major Lieber notices something odd in one of the books Karen carries; one page has been freshly torn out, revealing an invisible message. The clue confirms to Lieber that Karen may be more than a civilian nurse and raises the stakes for Rudy. The discovery accelerates the plan to uncover her true role.

Facing mounting evidence, Rudy arranges a sting by sending Russian-speaking Private Muller to K-14's hospital masquerading as a prisoner of war. Muller passes Karen a Russian recognition signal (two circles) and delivers a message ordering her to meet an agent at a deserted house at nine o'clock that night. The trap hinges on Karen's willingness to participate in the exchange.

During the staged meeting, Karen—who is secretly K-14—incriminates herself to the 'Russian' agent Lehan. Rudy, convinced of her espionage, moves to arrest her and stop the operation from going further. The moment marks a brutal pivot from romance to confrontation.

K-14's associate shoots Rudy and knocks out Lehan, creating chaos around the deserted house. Rudy manages to drag Karen away from the wounded officer, still urging her to flee as the night erupts in pursuit and danger. The immediate threat of their world collapsing underscores the war's power to redefine love and loyalty.

After the war ends, the two meet by chance at a Swiss train station. This time, Rudy does not let her slip away, signaling a possible new beginning beyond the conflict. Their reunion hints at a future built on wary trust and shared history.

Their renewed bond marks the end of pursuit and the beginning of a fragile, hopeful future. They must navigate secrets, scars, and the cost of war as they try to build a life together in a world transformed by conflict.