On the battlefields of World War I, the story of Alois Fiedler begins, told with sensitivity and intimacy by his son, "Stern" author Teja Fiedler: The farmer's son and Austro-Hungarian lieutenant rises to become a respected notary in Bohemia after the war. However, his wife then becomes mentally ill, Adolf Hitler brings the Sudeten Germans "home to the Reich," and during World War II, Alois fears for his older sons in Russia. At the collapse of the Third Reich, the Red Army saves him from Czech partisans, but he is then imprisoned as a traitor and ultimately expelled from his homeland with his family. In the impoverished town of Plattling in Lower Bavaria, the destitute refugee tries to make a difficult fresh start.