His prominent Philadelphia family ends his funding to persuade him to return home to become a doctor, but after suffering shell shock as an ambulance driver during World War I Ellis is uninterested in a conventional career.

Now a banker, Keith suggests that Ellis move to Berlin, as due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic it has a very low cost of living for those with hard currency.

While studying art with Fritz Falke (a fictionalized George Grosz), Ellis meets many important figures in the history of Germany between the world wars including Walther Rathenau, Max Liebermann, Bertolt Brecht, Hans von Seeckt, and Hermann Göring.

[2] Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times wrote that "[i]f the purpose of historical fiction is to tell us what the facts, the figures and the history books do not, then ... A Princess in Berlin succeeds admirably"; however, "the effect of experiencing Weimar culture through Mr. Solmssen's looking glass is a little like seeing George Grosz's caricatures as rendered by Norman Rockwell.

"[3] Todd Walton, also for the Times, wrote that the promise of "a crisp, exciting opening chapter ... bogs down for lack of action ... Perhaps if there had been a little less history and a bit more depth of emotion".