As the season of relationships approaches, a Netflix mini-series based on Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” highlights a different form of long-distance friendship— before the age of social media and the internet.

Marie-Laure and Werner meet through a mutual acquaintance known to them only as “the professor,” who broadcasts his show late at night from pre-war France for the duration of World War II. Marie and Werner are on opposite sides of the war: Marie is a french citizen originally from Paris, and Werner is part of a Nazi radio team after being taken from his orphanage and sent to a Nazi military school.

Their love of “the professor” stems from listening since childhood, his inspiring words keeping both of them up late into the night. Because of this fond memory, Werner decides to disobey orders and hide the illegal broadcast from his superiors, especially when he determines that it is coming from Saint-Malo, where he is stationed.

The Netflix adaptation extends the book over four, hour-long episodes. This is not a case of a book’s cinematic form tarnishing the image of the original story. Though there are some differences, the mini-series is artfully constructed and, for some, maybe more engaging than the book. The sequence of the opening scenes drops us directly into the conflict on the citadel and the paths of the two main characters and their adversary similar to the original story. We watch as their slight links to each other are revealed long before their paths begin to intertwine tightly near the climax of the story. The storyline, complete with flashbacks for context and character development, is executed expertly, with each episode left on a cliffhanger. The mini-series is easily watchable in one night.