Sources of Life

Germany 1949: When prisoner of war Erich eventually returns to a fledging new German Republic, he feels like a stranger in his own town. While the milestones of post war-German history are being shaped, we follow the stories of Erich, his children and grandchildren: His estranged wife Elisabeth has a female lover, when Erich, riding the wave of German “Wirtschaftswunder”, establishes a factory for garden gnomes and eventually becomes a wealthy man. Their son Klaus strives to be a writer but his wife Gisela turns out to be a writer much superior to him. Offspring Robert, brought up among “Group 47” literates and sexual liberation, is struggling to find the one and true love in a country run by narcissists, new bourgoisie and former Nazis. And after all, former war prisoner Erich excels and overcomes his initial frustration and bitterness.