This tragicomedy presents the events of 1933 from a child's perspective. An antifascist and his wife are forced to flee Germany and leave their two children temporarily behind. Their friends at home are unable to help twelve-year-old Hansi and fourteen-year-old Rosi reunite with their parents because the Gestapo stand guard over the apartment. While the children wait to be rescued, Hansi, who is still too young to completely understand the situation, takes comfort in holding onto his father's pocket watch, which he believes must contain some sort of secret message.