Four doctors are friends with each other. All the main characters and some supporting characters come into contact with one another throughout the story. It is a large group of men and women who mostly already know each other and cope with the turning point, marked by specific historical events in this work, in different ways. In a thrillingly told story, we encounter moralizing civil rights activists, established reformers, radical opponents of socialism, stubborn hardliners, opportunists, untouchable bigwigs, and not least, the conspiratorial villains. One doctor experiences a whole series of repressive measures after he reveals himself as an opponent of the existing socialism, falls deeply, and rises again after the turning point. Another doctor undergoes a transformation early on from Saul to Paul.