Berlin 1994: Sonja Schadt has spent almost her entire life in the legendary Adlon at the Brandenburg Gate. She has experienced its foundation, its heyday and its decline. She has preserved the spirit of the place. And she has always waited to solve her family secret. When she finally confronts her granddaughter, she is ninety years old. Katharina Zimmermann is part of the team of architects working on the reconstruction of the Adlon. A fateful encounter. Against all internal and external resistance, grandmother and granddaughter uncover a family lie. Rodica Doehnert, whose script for "Das Adlon - Eine Familiensaga" turned the TV three-part film into a television sensation with 9 million viewers, brings the gripping emotional events to life in her novel against a historical backdrop. While Sonja Schadt tells her granddaughter the story of the legendary hotel, its heyday and its history.