Minister Otto Sauer has just resigned. As usual, he walks over to the Eden Bar to muse about the rise and the fall of the mighty. This time, however, the evening takes a different course. He himself gives an account of the symbiosis of power and corruption while still defending it. In his opinion he has been made the scapegoat of the party.
The overthrown minister is a fictional figure, yet so easy to recognize.
Denmark, by the end of the 19th century. Gov. Dihmer gives his resignation because of his illness. Two friends, a pastor and a physician, try to awaken his willpower and transcend a journey to Italy. Meanwhile, in the homeland, there are political breakthroughs that make little hope for new times.
Viennese vegetable merchant Karl Kassbach becomes a member of a right-wing extremist organization, which plans numerous attacks on democratic institutions and journalists.
The film attempts to portray a realistic and detail-oriented study of the mind of the "Kleinbürger", trapped between the fringes of the lower and middle-classes.
