The year is 1967, amid Cold War tensions, the Vietnam War, the Six-Day War, the race to the moon, and the beginning of the West German student movement. Most people are unaware of what is happening in small, dreamy German provincial cities.

Hans Tannhauser, an American student in his late twenties, wins a trip to the village of Trüberbrook while taking part in a profit-play, though he can barely remember it. Looking for distance from his dissertation in quantum physics, he travels there out of curiosity.

He stays at the Pension Waldeslust on the village square, but after his arrival mysterious things begin to happen. Documents disappear from his room, someone seems to have broken in, and someone is trying to contact him.

As he gets to know the villagers and spa guests, only the young scientist Gretchen seems normal to him. Before long, she draws him into an adventure, and it becomes clear that he may be in Trüberbrook to save the world.