Vienna, 1936: The 50-year-old Leonidas, head of a department in the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, actually leads a carefree life with his beautiful and wealthy wife Amelie. However, both professionally and personally, he finds himself in a dilemma when he receives a letter of appeal from his former lover Vera, a Jewish woman: Will he help a gifted 17-year-old young man in Austria take the Matura exam? Caught between guilt and opportunism, Franz Werfel paints a keen social portrait of Austria before its annexation by Nazi Germany.