Munich 1942: Anna Schweigdorfer visits her former employers, the Jewish family Goldberg. They sit on packed suitcases for their imminent escape to England. While Anna takes the Goldberg`s ten-year-old daughter Franziska to bed and sings her to sleep, the Gestapo breaks into the house arresting Mr. und Mrs Goldberg. Anna manages to flee, taking Franziska with her. The next day the two travel to Anna`s home village. There, she presents Fraziska as her own daughter, a story that sounds credible as Anna has left years ago after an argument with her brother Toni and then broke off any contact with her family. Toni, owner of the local tavern, has climbed to mayor and head of the local NSDAP in the meantime. After reluctantly having taken Anna into his house because his wife insisted, he asks Anna over and over again who is the father of the girl. Even more Franzi often behaves quite strange. Anna, in constant fear that Franzis true identity might be discovered, at first mucks her family about with lies. Toni eventually even gives in and organises a certificate stating that Franzi is of aryan decent.
But Sturmbannführer Brunner, an old admirer of Anna and a waiter in the old days, starts researching on Franzis origins. When Anna`s former fiancé returns on leave from the front and suspects that Franzi is his daughter, Anna`s construction of lies is about to be exposed. Brunner finally discovers the truth, and Anna has to pay a high price for his silence.