It is 1935. The adolescent Emil is sent off to live with his worldly uncle, Dr. Ernst Fuchs, in a Czechoslovakian mining town in the Sudeten region, close to the German border. Following an unexpected divorce from his glamorous Hungarian wife, Emil's uncle marries Martha, his stout, submissive German maid. What begins as a marriage of convenience develops into a genuine love story as the mixed couple--he's Jewish--bravely face the mounting Nazi terror.