Hotel Sacher

At the center of all are two couples, the independent-minded publisher Martha and her unsuccessful writer-husband Max; the romance novel authoress and princess Konstanze and her socially committed husband Georg. Living on the edge, their destinies get intertwined as they conduct passionate but doomed affairs.

But there is another figure waiting in the wings to take her place on the chessboard of a new society: Marie. The illegitimate child of Georg - who had no idea of her existence - escapes the miserable conditions she was raised in and claims her rightful place. A new era is about to begin.