Following the struggles of the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919 and the Hitler Putsch of 1923, Anton takes early retirement and the Sittingers flee to the countryside, where the locals give them the cold shoulder.
Sittinger protects himself from complete ruin during the hyperinflation by converting his money into gold coins and then into dollars, against the advice of Herbert, who is a senior bank manager.
Sittinger finds solace only with his drinking companions, who include the eccentric Prussian aristocrat, Baron Gustav Heinrich von Ravél.
Life in the Sittinger household is disrupted when a social-democratic newspaper reveals that Anna is having an affair with Malwine's former beau, Franz Eibenthaler, who has risen in the ranks of the Nazi Party.
Led by Captain Schlicht, the SA crush opposition in Sittinger's village during violent clashes following a carnival procession.