The plot describes the lives of German literary refugees who fled Nazi Germany and their attempts to survive in Hollywood.
The play is narrated by Ödön von Horváth who in real life died in 1938 in a freak accident.
Through von Horváth, the audience is introduced to many famous historical figures such as Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, Johnny Weissmuller, Greta Garbo, Thomas Mann, his brother Heinrich Mann, and Heinrich’s alcoholic wife Nelly.
He confesses to her that he was a member of the Nazi Writers' Union in the 1930s and after she leaves for New York he drowns in a swimming pool accident.
Hampton has translated several of Horváth's plays, and the title echoes the most famous of these: Tales from the Vienna Woods.