For three educators, the search for a contemporary, binding role model for youth at the end of the 1960s becomes a challenge. Shortly after the publication of "Deutschstunde," Siegfried Lenz begins to write his novel "Das Vorbild." In 1968, three contentious experts in school pedagogy gather in a Hamburg boarding house to discuss a new and forward-looking reading book concept. The question arises whether there can still be role models in the Federal Republic in light of the student and youth revolts, and how to warn against any enthusiasm in politics in an age of discontinuity, which Lenz equates to a contagious disease: "Whoever writes is already an educator. [...] The role model extends into both politics and the most private sphere - it is not a continuation of the themes from 'Deutschstunde,'" he explains.