Love amidst power games and guild intrigues. A boy is born on January 1, 1500, on the threshold between centuries. An evil omen. The father does not want the ill-fated child. Nevertheless, Bertram forges his own path: as a merchant's apprentice, he wins the love of the merchant's daughter Gutta and rises to the highest ranks of the guild. However, the envious Ludovik von Stetten threatens to destroy not only the success but also the happiness of the young couple. The beginning of the great saga about a Frankfurt merchant family.