Fontane's ballad made the village of Ribbeck, located forty kilometers from Berlin, famous. After the fall of the Wall, West Berliners come to Ribbeck to plant a pear tree and celebrate the new German unity with the locals. They plant the tree like a standard in occupied territory next to the castle, which is now a nursing home, and they do not inquire about the past. At the folk festival, which hasn't taken place in decades, featuring pea soup, free beer, and pear schnapps from the West, a Ribbeck farmer makes himself heard. Hesitant at first, he slowly recounts the history of the village, which lies along the old military road, the time of the Thirty Years' War, feudal rule, Nazi dictatorship, and World War II, as well as the stages of socialism up to the turning point and the catastrophic decline of agriculture today. He speaks of the lords in the village.