Fate can be seen as inevitable or as something that one makes of it. The extent to which the fates of individuals can be interconnected and the impact that the actions of those involved have on their own lives, as well as on the lives of others, becomes clear when one examines each individual life in its various possibilities. David Mayerhofer was born into a difficult family from which he escapes. He and one of his brothers fall in love with at least equally complicated women in turn. When David tries to secretly influence his brother, he sets in motion something that gradually entangles all those involved in deeper mutual dependencies: he sends his brother his own story under a false name so that he can learn from it. However, his brother recognizes himself in it but does not draw the desired conclusions.