In October 1936, a high official in the Austrian government receives a letter from a German Jewish woman with whom he had an affair in 1925 asking him to help place an 11-year-old, half Jewish boy in a good Austrian school. Is the child his? Should he help? And above all should he help now, at a time when Nazis are becoming powerful in Austria?

King Victor of San Ferino dies without leaving an heir to the throne. Then the Queen Mother and her servant Archibald come across an illegitimate daughter of the regent: the Berlin hairdresser Isabell.

A young girl and her new friend investigate a series of supernatural happenings in the Austrian children's film SUMMER WITH THE GHOSTS. Caroline departs from her home in Montreal to join her father a famous film director on the set of his latest film in Austria. When she arrives however she learns of a series of accidents and problems on the film set with everyone at odds to explain how they happened. Suspecting that someone means to sabotage the film she begins to investigate the ancient castle being used as the set. Along with her newfound friend Jakob she discovers that the film's difficulties may in fact have a supernatural cause.

Kain, a young rock musician, is on his way from an "insider tip" to an acknowledged newcomer. Even though he often has to work at night, he leads a more or less settled life until he meets Nina. Nina, who is blind from birth, works as a switchboard operator at the post office. Her life as well is settled, and more so than for Kain the order in her life is a system of security for her. They fall in love and as time passes Nina gets much more involved in Kain's life as a musician than she wanted to.

In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.