Its topic is the Kinder der Landstrasse foundation, active between 1926 and 1973, which controversially attempted to assimilate the itinerant Yeniche population of Switzerland by forcibly moving their children to foster homes or orphanages.

The Yeniche Kessel family – Theresa, Paul and their five-year-old daughter Jana - escapes the Nazi terror and returns to Switzerland in 1939.

But the system is not able to 'break' the young woman, and instead endeavours to preempt a new generation's caravans from following their nomadic traditions along Switzerland's country lanes.

Though grown sad-eyed, tough and wary after years as a ward of the state, imprisoned and stigmatized as crazy and unteachable and even declared insane for the same claimed 'reasons' by officials, Jana struggles to unloose the bonds of the system and starts to search for her mother and father.

As a young adult Jana falls in love with a farmer's son, Franz, and they plan for the future reunion with her parents; in the beginning ignoring that her family has been destroyed by Schönefeld.

[1] The name of this program, provided by the Swiss children-oriented Pro Juventute foundation, was Kinder der Landstrasse (literally "children of the country road").