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The now forty-year-old structural engineer Robert Faehmel was drawn into a conspiracy by his friend Schrella in 1934 against the fascist brutality of a fellow classmate, Nettlinger, and a teacher. As a result of the scandal, Faehmel and Schrella were forced to flee to Holland.

Roughly 20 years later, Schrella returns to Germany and is arrested, since his name is still on a list of wanted criminals. And now none other than Nettlinger, in the meantime a very influential senior civil servant, has to get Schrella out of jail.

Faehmel was able to return to Germany much earlier since his parents negotiated a grant of amnesty for him, however under certain conditions: he had to fight in the war. Faehmel's parents witnessed both wars and while the events left little trace on his father, his mother's reactions to the savagery of war made her aggressive and depressive. Faehmel's wife – Schrella's sister – was killed in a bombing raid, leaving him alone with two young children to raise. The story of these three generations is built up in flashbacks set within the events of the 80th brithday of Faehmel's father.