The year is 1935, in a valley in the Black Forest. The cattle dealer Levi comes, like every year, into the valley to conduct his business. Levi has decided to win the hand and heart of Lisbeth Horger, the daughter of farmer Horger. But Levi finds that the valley has changed. The Reichsbahn has sent the engineer Fabian Kohler and a group of railway workers from the capital to repair the damage to a railway tunnel. They also bring a new spirit into the closed world of the Black Forest valley. A time for decisions has come for Lisbeth: she must decide between her boyfriend Paul Braxmeier and Levi. But the new age is also beginning almost imperceptibly for other inhabitants of the valley: farmer Horger won′t buy any more cattle from the Jew Levi, swastika flags are on the stammtisch in the inn, and the tires of Levi′s van have been slit open. A familiar world is becoming hostile and alien. No one stands up for Levi, except for Lisbeth. But the era does not favor their union.