The teenager Paul Simon takes up the hobby of wireless radio and marries the girl Maria, but leaves the village and never returns.

Paul Simon's brother Eduard moves to Berlin and meets the socialite Lucie.

Eduard Simon becomes the mayor of a village near Schabbach.

A highway is built near Schabbach, and one of the engineers, Otto, becomes Maria's lover.

Paul writes from the United States that he is visiting, forcing his ex-wife Maria to break up with Otto. However without proof of his Aryan lineage Paul is unable to enter Germany.

Anton Simon, fighting on the Russian front, marries Martha Hanke via a telephone wedding. Schabbach villagers confront the morality of Nazism.

The Simon family deals with the waning years of the German war.

Paul returns to Germany. The Simon family struggles for prosperity in the lean post-war years.

Hermann has a love affair with 26-year-old Klärchen, who is ostracized from Schabbach.

Anton Simon and his brother Ernst struggle for success in their businesses.

It is the twilight years of the older generation of the Simons, with a flashback to Maria's 70th birthday party and then her funeral.