Gerta Ital

With her daughter Anita, a young singer, the widow Marianne von der Halden undertakes a journey into the past. She wants to see her former admirers again. One of them is the chamber singer Paul Schneider, who only remembers his childhood sweetheart with irony. They meet the former student Werner Birkner at his wedding, where Anita meets the teacher Michael Brantner. But the encounters make no impression on Marianne. Until she meets her former great love again at a concert given by her daughter, the general director Elmers. The concert is a resounding success and Marianne reconnects with Elmers, who is still unaware that Anita is his daughter.

Prussia, at the time of Frederick the Great. In his service is Major General Dietrich Edler von Roedern, a renowned fortress builder who pursues his work with fanatical zeal and seriousness. He is not in the mood for women or festivities. Although he is married to Elisabeth, a woman who has gradually become estranged from him due to his nature, this marriage only exists on paper. When Frederick II invites him to a soiree, Roedern meets the singer Maria Raven. The two feel connected from the very beginning, a fateful, invisible bond that seems to chain the two very different people together. For the first time, Dietrich von Roedern experiences something like passionate love.