This film is based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history. The Monuments Men are a less well-known military unit which acted during World War II. They were tasked with rescuing art masterpieces Nazis stole from occupied countries and returning them – works of art from Michelangelo and Da Vinci to Van Eyck and Vermeer. It was a nearly impossible mission that often took place behind enemy lines and under fire from the German army, which had orders to destroy everything so that nothing would be left after the Reich's fall. These seven soldiers – originally museum directors, curators, and art historians – fight against time to save centuries-old documents of European culture.