When the village sheriff Frank Koops settles a dispute between the neighbors Ernst and Rudi, he has no idea that this is the prelude to murderous complications that go back far into the past.
In the spring of 1945, a train deporting hundreds of Jewish prisoners gets stranded near a small German village occupied by the Red Army. Condemned to each other and in a context of deep mistrust, desperation and revenge, an unexpected friendship emerges between Russian sniper Vera, village girl Winnie and Jewish-Dutch woman Simone.
The only time Maria feels liberated is when she is playing the organ. Bach’s music is something you feel in your gut. At home she bears the brunt of responsibility – both for her rebellious sister Hannah, two years her junior, who is busy planning her escape from the village, and for her father, Johann.