Karl and Tristan grow up during the Nazi dictatorship. Tristan succumbs to the ideology of hatred, while Karl desperately tries to protect his family—especially his sister Erika, who has Down syndrome.

Ben and Barnabas are unseparatable since they are small. The two of them, however, are no ordinary pair of brothers, for Barnabas, with his twenty-two years, remained mentally at the age of three.