The farmer Franz Eimann is born in 1905 in the small village Gründle in the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia. He lives in peace with his Czech neighbors, but life changes when the Nazis invades and occupies the country. As a German he is called to the front in 1943. Fortunately he is too old to serve as a fighting soldier, and never kills anyone. At the end of the war he spends three years in prison in England. After his release he tries to go home, but the authorities in Czechoslovakia don't allow him to return until 1956 because of his ethnicity. When he returns he hasn't seen his wife and daughters for 13 years. After the war all properties belonging to the German-speaking population are confiscated and turned over to the Czechs, including his little farm. Many of German ethnicity have to dig their own graves before being shot down. In 1958 Eimann succeeds to buy a new cottage, where he now lives as a widower, 86 years old. Besides taking care of his few animals, he spends his days worshiping God, who saved him through all the horrors. He goes to the mass in the village church. At home he prays to God in front of a small altar in a little chapel of his own.