The story of Franz Kafka's life from different perspectives. Presenting his difficult relationship with his domineering father Hermann, his deep friendship with Max Brod and his various love affairs.
After an elaborate application process, Empress Elisabeth of Austria hires Countess Irma as her new lady-in-waiting and takes her to her summer residence on Corfu. As the two women become closer there, this soon leads to tensions back in Vienna.
1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.
Hanna Leitner, wants to escape the bourgeois corset and her husband Anton, who sexually harasses her. She goes into therapy with Otto Gross and follows him to Monte Verità, where she discovers the fascination of photography.
After the body of an escort girl is found in a mountain lake, the case quickly turns personal for the lead investigator.
The dress is too lavish and the toilet cubicle too small for the bride to fit in. The ballroom is jam-packed and the mood is alarmingly good. Something is about to burst: the groom’s delusion of grandeur? The pregnant belly of deaf Betti? Her step-father’s patience? Or the wine-filled bladder of his ex-wife?
The life of Karsten, a mortician, isn’t going that well at the moment. Just in time for Christmas, his parents inform him during the festive dinner that they want to commit suicide together. In five days. Usually used to death, he tries everything to convince the dear mother Marion and the father Theodor, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, not to pursue their plan. But the conflict about the self-determined death opens up old wounds – and as Karsten’s own health deteriorates rapidly, it is no longer clear who needs to be saved.