From a mixture of subconscious snapshots and the confusing accumulation of knowledge over fifty years of peace, the author weaves the story together from notes and incomplete diaries, partly in the first person and partly in the third person (Karrasch). The narrative begins with his voluntary enlistment in the Waffen-SS, moves through the war in Russia, the partisan struggle in Tito's Yugoslavia, the trial before the military court, the escape from captivity, and the devastated post-war Germany, continuing into the sun-drenched South Tyrol and later to Rome. There, in the form of an old Nazi, Karrasch faces the temptation to return to the past. To escape this, Karrasch attempts to emigrate to Argentina, but a love affair that began in South Tyrol stands in the way of his plans.