Four-generation story-saga dealing with the decline of a middle-class Lübeck family. The first adaptation of a Thomas Mann book was also Gerhard Lamprecht’s first major film.

A working-class couple living on a river barge sees their fragile stability shattered when a seductive outsider enters their closed world. Jealousy, desire, and social pressure slowly build, leading to betrayal and an inescapable tragic outcome as the city comes into view.