The story revolves around a Bavarian inn. The inn keeper's son returns from the WW1 battlefields of France. Trained as a mechanic, he endeavours to build up a business during the depression that followed. In 1928, he inherits the inn and marries. These are the difficulties he encounters bringing up six children during the Third Reich period, coping with the bullying tactics of the SA thugs, catering for trainee Luftwaffe pilots, as well as high-ranking Nazis and added to this is the anxiety caused by his father-in-law's total dislike of the F hrer. One slip of the tongue or a false move could bring dire consequences. The arrival of the American occupying forces creates a sense of relief.