A house by a Markish lake, where a whole century rages: It is the setting for fifteen life stories, tales, and destinies, from the 1920s to the present day. Its inhabitants experience the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the war and its end, the GDR, the turning point, and the post-reunification period. Jenny Erpenbeck gives each individual fate its own literary form, each unfolds its drama, tragedy, and happiness in a completely unique way. A panorama of the last century with impressive force.