Unlike his assistant Joachim Peters (Raimund Schelcher), who is sent to a concentration camp for his political beliefs, Professor Sonnenbruck (Eduard von Winterstein) refuses to get involved in politics and focuses entirely on his research. When Peters escapes and comes to his former boss, Sonnenbruck considers he has done enough when he does not report Peters. His daughter Ruth, on the other hand, helps Peters go underground and ends up paying with her life.

After the war, Sonnenbruck hopes that he can return to a life of research freed from politics but is disappointed by conflicts with his new colleagues in Göttingen. While attending a medical conference in the GDR, he encounters Peters once again...

Based on a Polish play by Leon Kruczkowski.