And the world was young

Three families, three cities in the awakening years1. January 1950: The new decade is welcomed in Hamburg, Cologne and San Remo. Gerda and Heinrich Aldenhoven's house in Cologne is bursting at the seams. Heinrich's art gallery is nowhere near enough to satisfy all the hungry mouths. In Hamburg, on the other hand, Gerda's friend Elisabeth and her husband Kurt are less concerned about money. Son-in-law Joachim, however, has still not returned from the war. Margarethe, née Aldenhoven, has moved from Cologne to San Remo. As differently as they all spent New Year's Eve, their questions on New Year's morning are the same: Will the wounds finally heal? What does the future hold?