This heralded novel by a young German in his early twenties tells a story of the von Lazars, Hungarian nobility torn asunder by the 20th century. Lajos is born around the fin de siècle and joins his six-year-old sister, Ilona, in the vast, unhappy household. Before the war, their mother, Maria, quietly takes her own life. Their heartless father, Sandor, sends them to boarding school while he drinks his way through the oblivion of the Empire and his world. When the old baron dies, Lajos and his young wife, Lily, move into the manor and take control of the family's business. Success allows Lajos, Lily, and their children to buy a second home in Budapest. Fear of Hitler forces Ilona and her Jewish husband to leave Berlin and alight on the Danube as well. After the Anschluss, they manage to escape to Switzerland.
Just before the war begins, Lajos and Lily's son, Pista, falls in love with a Jewish girl, Matilda. Matilda's mom quashes the puppy love as fast as she can. The war begins, and Lajos is summoned to the army. Most of his responsibilities are organizational, and he never even leaves home, but works in Pécs near the manor house. In 1944, he rounds up and ships off the local Jews. With the Russians approaching, the family begins to walk west. The Russians pass through on the way to Budapest, and the family returns to the manor house. That summer, Lajos and Pista go to Budapest, and Pista learns that Matilda had been shot by the Arrow Cross.
In 1948, their house, land, and possessions become "property of the state." A few years later, after settling into office jobs and an apartment in Budapest, they are again dispossessed and moved east to a farm. In 1953, they are allowed to return to the city, but Lajos struggles to maintain any enthusiasm for life. A few years later, Pista is in love with Kati, and his younger sister, Eva, falls for revolutionary writer Akos. In late 1956, the Soviets invade. Leaving their parents in Budapest, Pista and Eva flee to Yugoslavia before their journey ends in Zurich
