 The power and fortune of the Von Essenbeck family remained intact even when Germany lost the great war and during the depression that followed. Now it s 1934 and the baron has summoned his family to a dinner that also brings a cousin rising in the Nazi party to the great house accompanied by a rising manager at the baron s company. Two little girls recite poetry in the parlor and then play hide-and-seek with their cousin Martin. Suddenly there is a scream. The baron has been shot with their father s gun and the father flees the country.