In this family story with autobiographical elements, Alfred Döblin narrates the fate of a family in turbulent 1920s Berlin. A widow moves to the German metropolis and tries to make a living there with her three children. After a failed suicide attempt, her newly awakened ambition focuses on the career of her eldest son. And indeed, the son succeeds in climbing the social ladder. However, the economic crisis suddenly calls everything into question once again. As is typical of Döblin, this family novel from 1935 also tells the story of an entire era and seeks to uncover the causes of the German catastrophe.