Thomas Mann tells the story of his family and their position in their hometown of Lübeck, as far as he could trace it and overview it in detail, even having experienced it himself. Relatives, dignitaries, and notable personalities from his youth are included. The life of Thomas Buddenbrook takes up most of the space, "a modern hero's life"; his son Hanno will put a long line under the family's genealogy and justify himself with the words: "I believed ... I believed ... nothing would come anymore ..." In the more than one hundred years since its first publication, the novel has captivated countless people and has lost none of its charm and relevance to this day.