The film portrays the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914.

The social worker Luise Gottschalk dedicates all her passion to the Viennese caretakers and derailed young people. Tirelessly, she advertises to adults for understanding the needs of adolescents. She is particularly committed to a girl named Elfie Breitner who is at risk of drifting into prostitution.

In war-torn Galicia, devout Jew Mendel Singer’s family faces hardship: his eldest sons are conscripted - one flees to Austria, then America - while their frail newborn Menuchim is deemed unfit to emigrate. Torn between love and survival, Mendel must choose who goes to the New World.