The film tells the story of the rise and fall of three generations, 1963-1976, Mariensiel-Heidelberg. Doctor Fachmin, a country doctor, descendant of an old-etablished family, married another time. Upon the birth of a son, the two dissimilar brothers meet bearing an irreconcilable mixture of hatred and love for each other. The agony of a man who cannot have the woman he loves, the jealousy of a son, who wants to protect his mother from the intruder in order to have her for himself. Combined with other psychological complications within this clan the story leads to the point where the mother becomes the victim of an attack which scars her for the rest of her life, although this attempt was planned by her jealous son and meant for his brother.