In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff tells her friend Levin Schücking about her recently completed story Die Judenbuche and begins by reading from the manuscript. The protagonist of the actual story is Friedrich Mergel, whose father Hermann Mergel has a fatal accident under a beech tree on a stormy night while returning from a wedding abroad. Friedrich, who earns his living as a cowherd, is adopted by his uncle Simon, who uses him for his obscure business.