A successful, yet naive American art critic Carol Cabbott Joan Bennett is married to German Eric Hoffman Francis Lederer. They have a seven-year-old son, Ricky Johnny Russell. They travel to pre-World War II Nazi Germany during the occupation of Austria and the invasion of Czechoslovakia to visit Eric's father, whom he has not seen for ten years, even as everyone warns that going to Nazi Germany is foolish. A friend, Dr. Hugo Gerhardt Ludwig Stössel, asks them to deliver money to, and somehow help his brother, the famous philosopher Ernst Gerhardt, who has been arrested and imprisoned in Dachau.
When the Hoffmans reach Berlin, they are met at the station not by Eric's father but by Frieda Anna Sten, the former wife of Eric's old schoolmate and best friend. Eric's father, an elderly director and owner of a factory, tells them he wants to sell everything and leave Berlin, as he can no longer endure the hostile atmosphere. Even his butler is a Nazi, and Frieda lingers around Eric as the plot unfolds. An active and enthusiastic Nazi, Frieda invites Eric to Nazi Party gatherings until he no longer wants to return to America, preferring to keep the factory and remain in Nazi Germany. Carol, however, grows increasingly uneasy about staying, and over time she sees her husband in a troubling new light.
While Eric attends Nazi gatherings, Carol tries to uncover the truth about Gerhardt with the help of Kenneth Delane Lloyd Nolan, an American foreign correspondent in Berlin who has a prophetic understanding of the downfall of Nazi Germany. Their investigation leads them to the grim discovery that Gerhardt has been killed in Dachau, and Carol decides to hand the money to Gerhardt's widow Frau Gerhardt, a move that marks a pivotal shift in her awareness of the regime’s cruelty. They witness scenes of deliberate dehumanization and brutality by Nazis in the streets, experiences that sharpen Carol’s dawning realization of the true nature of German life under Nazi rule.
As the emotional tension tightens, Carol suspects Eric of infidelity with Frieda, and Eric confesses that he wants to marry Frieda. Carol, though pained, agrees to separate but is soon pulled into a deeper conflict over Ricky. Eric refuses to let Carol leave Germany with their son, intent on raising Ricky within the Nazi circle. The situation is further complicated when Eric’s father warns that if Ricky is not allowed to return with Carol to the United States, he will reveal that Eric’s mother was a Jewess. The revelation devastates Eric and strains every remaining tie, while Frieda, who has witnessed this moment, is horrified by the disclosure of Eric’s heritage and departs in disgust, calling him a Jude.
With the clock ticking and loyalties stretched to their limit, Carol and Ricky finally depart for New York, seeking safety and a new start away from the oppressive regime. Kenneth Delane remains at the station, choosing to stay “for the duration,” even as his own prospects dim, a quiet reminder of the personal costs of bearing witness to history’s darkest hours. The film closes on a journey from illusion to awakening, as a family confronted with moral choices and the perilous pull of ideology makes a tentative break from a world spiraling toward catastrophe.
