Situation Hopeless — But Not Serious

On 27 November 1944, two American fliers, Captain Hank Wilson and Sergeant Lucky Finder, bail out over Germany and crash in the small town of Altheim. Wilhelm Frick reads his horoscope and senses that an exciting change is coming that day. The fliers hide in Frick's cellar, setting off a delicate standoff between hospitality and danger.

Frick initially locks the men in his cellar and contemplates notifying the authorities. One of the fliers claims German descent, which gives Frick pause and softens his stance. The men and Frick end up sharing songs in German as he chooses to hide them rather than report them.

Frick leaves his role as the pharmacist's assistant at Drogerie Neusel to go to work as usual. His boss listens to the radio reporting Allied advances, including Aachen's fall, signaling the shrinking timeline of the war. The fliers wait in the cellar, listening to the world outside change.

As the front moves closer, American troops march through Altheim near Frick's workplace, signaling the impending occupation. The town's mood shifts from fear to cautious hope as liberation seems possible. The fliers remain hidden in the cellar, unseen by the new occupiers.

The Americans share the cellar space with Frick's cats, finding hobbies to pass time—one draws cartoons while the other works metal, even crafting a lockpick. They manage to unlock themselves just as Frick returns, testing the limits of their quiet arrangement. The fragile truce grows more complicated as they begin to expect a different future.

Finder eventually wields Frick's own gun, turning it on him in a tense standoff. Frick decides they must stay until the war ends, enforcing this by shackling them while they sleep and keeping the key to their freedom.

Frick brings a very pretty Christmas tree to the cellar, offering a small symbol of normalcy amid captivity. The tree becomes a quiet reminder of life outside war and a morale boost for everyone sharing the space.

The narrative jumps forward to VE Day, with Frick listening to the radio announcing the war's end. The sense of relief is tempered by continued uncertainty as occupation begins to reshape the region.

On VE Day, Frick brings a large bottle of Swiss kirsch; by the third tumbler, everyone is singing and Frick's efforts to provide comfort intensify. He offers cushions, books, and a glimpse of sunshine to keep morale up.

Frick's boss is arrested as a Nazi sympathiser, and Finder grows a long beard as the region comes under American occupation. Frick tries to barter for extra supplies from the local American quartermaster, mixing survival with a wary hope for normal life.

In a moment of weakness or bravado, Frick slips American slang, prompting Finder to challenge him. He concocts a false history of the war—claiming the Americans have captured Strasbourg—and hands around a California-stamped orange to test their trust as he diverts attention with tales of Paris as a heap of rubble.

Finder demands a woman, and Frick heads to the Daffodil Club where Lissie, a madam, offers him a choice of girls. He chooses someone, but the back-office conversation alarms Lissie, who presses a silent alarm and has him tossed out.

Frick's grip loosens and he appears unhinged, an episode that lands him in a hospital briefly. He steals a bike and returns to a dilapidated home where the two prisoners remain, while police pursue him for the bike and question Switzerland's neutrality. The chase escalates toward a remote ruin that becomes a pivotal moment.

Finder steals Frick's luger and bolts into the night, pursued by police. The chase leads to a boat scene and a realization that the world is changing, symbolized by a newspaper mention of Truman and the Iron Curtain. The pair eventually fly back to San Francisco for Christmas, where Frick briefly reappears at the window and ends up serving drinks at their party.