"Two main protagonists dominate this epic film. Chairman Mauch, who had supported Hitler, finds new fame and fortune in West Germany after the war. The bourgeois chemist Dr. Hans Scholz lives through a tortuous political transformation and maturing process. Finally, he becomes wrapped up in his political neutralit…

A group of children play a game on their island home of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea. They revise an ancient heathen ritual one cold March day by standing in the frigid water. The one who lasts the longest in the icy cold will be referred to as the king of Kummerow. They befriend a poor shepherd who is something of a socia…