Experimental in the use of time, the film revolves around the life of a middle-class German family between 1910-1960.

Reunited in Cologne in 1956, three generations of the Fähmel family reminisce. Among their memories are the deaths of two children of the matriarch Johanna and her husband Heinrich during the Great War, Johanna's subsequent arrest for slandering the kaiser, and her intermittent incarceration in mental institutions. Also remembered are the death of the couple's Nazi son Otto during World War II, the flight of their student son Robert to Amsterdam after conspiring with classmates Schrella and Progulske to kill the fascist teacher Vacano, Robert's subsequent repatriation, and his demolition of Heinrich's architectural masterpiece, the Abbey of St. Anthony, as a protest against war. During the celebration of Heinrich's 80th birthday, Johanna states her intention of slaying Vacano at a military parade, but is dissuaded by her husband, who suggests instead the assassination of a prominent minister. Following her abortive attempt on the bureaucrat's life, Heinrich reassures his family that Johanna will escape punishment because of her psychiatric history.