Two young men get caught up in thoughts of revolution in Germany in 1848. Drawn to safety by a family friend, they learn to recognise the folly of thinking you know what is best for your fellow man and discover a more enlightened way of looking at the world, and at themselves.
"That is the most harmful pride of the human, that he always thinks he must have an effect on others, teach and train them, meanwhile though nature has given everyone everything to come to maturity. If it continues as it does in our days, then we will arrive in the end at the idea that the human is not in the position to eat and to drink properly if he has not learnt it through history. We live in a time of the most shameful ignorance ... The human needs nothing but himself in order to recognise himself and arrive at wisdom through self-knowledge."