Freddy, a Viennese Jew who emigrated to New York after Hitler's invasion, and Adler, a left-wing intellectual originally from Berlin, return to Austria in 1944 as soldiers in the U.S. Army. Freddy falls in love with the daughter of a Nazi, and Adler attempts to go over to the Communist Zone. But with the advent of the Cold War and continuing anti-semitism, the idealism of both characters is shattered as they find themselves surrounded by cynicism, opportunism, and universal self-deception.

Kai Wodar is the son of a German-Yugoslav couple in Vienna. His father works as Milan coach in professional football and has at the time in Austria a commitment. But Kai, the name his friends Fips, his mother can hardly know, they killed in a traffic accident. For several years he brings to a boarding school before his father, now married to the Yugoslav Gordana, brings him back to himself. For Fips begin restless years; Milan Wodar constantly changes clubs.