Sunshine

In mid-19th-century Austria-Hungary, a tavern owner crafts a popular herb tonic called Taste of Sunshine. The tonic brings wealth and prestige to the Sonnenschein family, establishing their rising fortune and social standing.

Ignatz, the eldest son, falls in love with his first cousin Valerie. Their relationship is frowned upon by Emmanuel and Rose, fueling tension within the family as they navigate love and legitimacy. Their bond seeds future changes in name and status.

Ignatz graduates from law school and becomes a respected district judge. He is asked by the chief judge to adopt a Hungarian surname to advance to the central court, and he, along with Gustave and Valerie, changes their last name to Sors. The change marks the family’s formal integration into Hungarian society.

Valerie becomes pregnant in spring 1899 and Ignatz and Valerie marry before the birth of their son Istvan. Their second son, Adam, is born in 1902, expanding the family’s lineage and influence within the estate.

Ignatz and Gustave serve as officers in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. Emmanuel dies on the same day as Emperor Franz Joseph I, a stark emblem of the collapsing old order. In the days after the war, Valerie briefly leaves Ignatz for another man, signaling a personal upheaval.

With the fall of the monarchy and a succession of socialist and communist regimes, Ignatz loses his judicial position. Gustave pushes for revolutionary change while the family endures political turbulence and shifting loyalties.

A new monarchy emerges and asks Ignatz to oversee trials of retaliation against the communists; he declines, is forced to retire, and his health deteriorates. Valerie steps into a leadership role within the family as the elder statesman figure.

Istvan and Adam join the Jewish-run Civic Fencing Club. Adam rises to become Hungary’s best fencer, winning national championships and leading the national team to the 1936 Olympic gold medal in Team Sabre in Nazi Germany. He becomes a beloved national hero.

New Hungarian laws discriminate against people with Jewish ancestry, initially shielding the Sonnenschein-Sors family. Adam is soon expelled from the military fencing club, and Greta convinces the family to emigrate to protect their children, but they miss exit visas.

During the Nazi occupation of Hungary, Valerie and Hannah are forced into the Budapest Ghetto; Valerie escapes and hides, while Hannah’s fate is left unknown. Adam and his son Ivan are sent to a labor camp, where Adam is beaten, stripped, and dies, while Istvan, Greta, and their son are shot by the Nazis.

After the war, the surviving Sors family returns to the Sonnenschein estate. Gustave returns from exile and enters the communist government, while Valerie manages the household and Ivan becomes a state policeman. Ivan begins an affair with Carole, the wife of a high-ranking communist official.

In the wake of Stalin’s death in 1953, Ivan feels haunted by his role in assisting the regime’s repression and leaves the police to vow resistance against the regime. He wrestles with guilt and the cost of loyalty to power.

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Ivan emerges as a leader but is imprisoned when the uprising fails. After release, he returns to live with Valerie in a single room of the old estate; Valerie falls ill and dies, and Ivan continues the search for the tonic but accidentally discards the book.

Ivan finds an old letter from Emanuel to Ignatz urging acceptance of oneself rather than seeking approval. Inspired, he changes his surname from Sors to Sonnenschein and begins a quiet, solitary reckoning with his family’s legacy as the communist regime finally ends.