Hans Borgelt

Against the backdrop of late 19th-century Berlin, Toyotaro Ota, a young Japanese uni student studying in Germany, meets and falls in love with 16-year-old local dancer Elise. Their unconventional affair and subsequent cohabitation stir up a massive scandal that threatens his reputation, eventually reaching the ears of officials in Japan.

The young Chinese heir to millions in the USA is suddenly destitute. He takes out a life insurace policy on himself and assigns his former teacher to kill him.

The story of Jacob Fabian, a somewhat liberal Berlin advertising copywriter who witnesses the collapse of the prewar German society during the 1930s.