The story takes place in a village high up in the mountains of Austria and close to the border, crossing which was the last hope for many for seven years.

Two nine-year-old girls—rude Luise Palfy and respectful shy Lotte Körner—meet on a summer camp. Apart from their different hair-do, they look alike. They have never seen each other before, but soon find out that they are identical twins. It turns out that their parents divorced, each keeping one of the girls. They decide to trade places at the end of the summer. Lottie curls her hair, Lisa braids hers, and both go off to where they have never been before. The adventure begins.

The deceased owner of a medieval castle stipulated the following in his will: The heir to his mighty estate would be the elder of the two stepsisters, Katharina and Margrit von Kronberg, namely Margrit, if she married Heinz Wagner, a cousin who had just returned from captivity. When Margrit observed Katharina and Heinz rendezvousing at a nearby lake, Margrit demanded that her husband leave the castle immediately, before she, the elder sister, and Heinz were married. Furious, Katharina then plotted to poison Margrit. Only when Katharina dreamed that the village youth would avenge Margrit's violent death according to ancient tradition and that she, Katharina, would be burned on a pyre like witches in the Middle Ages, did she, after awakening from this nightmare, abandon her bloody plan. Her change of will is rewarded: Heinz has decided to marry Katharina and not Margrit.

A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.

The nine-year-old orphan Therese has recently moved in with a family of gardeners. She continues to take loving care of her former foster mother, from whom she had to leave when she fell ill with a heart condition. With the help of old Jacob, the girl manages to grow a particularly beautiful rose. After some complications, this proves to be a stroke of luck, and not just for her.

Teruo gets caught up in a conflict between tradition and modernism after returning to Japan from Germany after having spent a number of years there studying. Now, he is supposed to marry Mitsuko, the daughter of his adoptive father, to whom Teruo has long been promised. But Teruo, who has gotten to know the freedoms of the western world, would rather marry the woman he loves and behaves brusquely to Mitsuko.

During the Prohibition the US government has been just as successful at stopping drinking as they have been in the War on Drugs. Customs Officer Arne Kolk is determined to stop the alcohol smugglers at any price.