The von Trapp family are struggling to survive in America, where their performances of European church music are not popular with the audiences. Only when they start performing more upbeat Austrian folk songs and even some American numbers do they become a success and finally find security and a new home.

Four-generation story-saga dealing with the decline of a middle-class Lübeck family. The first adaptation of a Thomas Mann book was also Gerhard Lamprecht’s first major film.