Hanna was orphaned during World War II and has since been taken into Hannelore's family as a foster child. Hannelore was separated from her son Clemens sometime during the last days of the war, but a series of accidents enables Hannelore to find her son again; he has been "roughing it" in a quarry. Before that, he was being taken care of by a Russian woman, and it takes him a while to adjust to the fact that he's actually a German boy. Hannelore's oldest son has gotten in trouble at school: they have kicked him out for revealing that one of the school's teachers was an active Nazi party member. Nothing daunted, he goes on to become a journalist. Meanwhile, Hanna, now almost grown, has integrated into her new family so successfully that she is finally officially adopted by them.