Fritz Adam, a Ger­man Jew­ish entre­pre­neur, and own­er of one of the most pres­ti­gious depart­ment stores in cen­tral Berlin, finds him­self at odds with the polit­i­cal devel­op­ments at the time of the Weimar Republic.

Fritz is an enthu­si­as­tic sup­port­er of the Olympic ide­al and sees the pro­mo­tion of sports as the way for­ward to increase coop­er­a­tion between nations in the form of healthy com­pe­ti­tion so as to pre­vent future mil­i­tary con­fronta­tions. Also an adven­tur­er at heart, and spon­sor of many of the first explorato­ry voy­ages around the globe, he sees his beliefs and ideals threat­ened and final­ly shat­tered as the Nazis return to val­ues of order, dis­ci­pline, and mil­i­tary expansionism.

As a Pruss­ian offi­cer who fought in the great war, he regards him­self as a Ger­man, a Berlin­er, and a Jew, in that order. Despite being forced into bank­rupt­cy and wit­ness­ing the increased repres­sion of the Jew­ish peo­ple, he holds on to his belief that it is only a tem­po­rary phase and that the army will restore order in time.

As the polit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion dete­ri­o­rates, the ten­sion between Fritz and his eldest son, an ardent paci­fist, increas­es and threat­ens the fam­i­ly uni­ty. Fritz has to decide whether to stay or leave the Ger­many that he loves.