The time is pre-World War II and Paul Schleyer has just finished his M.A. in English, against his father's wishes. Now he's off to Princeton Seminary to reluctantly do his father's bidding. But he meets Kurt, a loud-mouthed German immigrant who is trying to hard to be an American; and Klara and her family, opinionated Germans who both repeal and attract him. Paul falls in love with Klara and when she and her mother decide to return to Germany, Paul decides to go along and study at a university there. From America to war-torn Germany and back again, this novel deals with the anguish of broken idealism and the hope for a united nation.