Five Days, Five Nights (Fünf Tage, Fünf Nächte) takes place in Dresden in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. While Dresden is in ruins, over two thousand paintings by artists including Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens, Giorgione, and Vermeer have disappeared from the city’s Old Masters Picture Gallery. Red Army captain Leonov and his soldiers have been ordered to recover the lost paintings. During the next five days, Dresden’s residents join the search for the collection. A secret Nazi document offers a first lead…

During the war, having lost his family, Alyosha ends up in an orphanage. He devotes all his free time to music, with the full support of his caregiver, Maria Pavlovna. Noticing Alyosha’s exceptional talent, the touring conductor Dobrynin adopts him and brings him to Moscow. Dobrynin is very pleased: his own son and Alyosha now study at the same music school.