We share the emotions, the hopes and fears, of a doctor's family in Germany during the last days of World War II and the beginning of the American occupation. Through Karin Lorenz, the doctor's nearly seventeen-year-old daughter, the family is invited to stay with a young and dedicated minister, Pastor Helmut Lobelius, in a village away from the direct path of the oncoming U.S. Army and the Allied bombers. The end of the war is obviously only a matter of time; Dr. Lorenz wants his wife and daughter and his young son Till to be as far removed from danger as possible. So Karin's dearest wish comes true. Now, daily, she will see Helmut, with whom - despite a great difference in age and background - she has fallen deeply in love.