1933. German steel magnate Joachim Von Essenbeck (Albrecht Schönhals) is murdered on his birthday, the day the Reichstag burns. It is part of a power plot for company executive Frederick Bruckmann (Dirk Bogarde) to climb to the top. He is aided by his romantic partner Sophie Von Essenbeck (Ingrid Thulin), a schemer who thinks she can control the actual Essenbeck heir. He is her son, pedophile weakling Martin Von Essenbeck (Helmut Berger). Framed for the murder, Essenbeck nephew and Communist sympathizer Gunther (Renaud Verley) is forced into exile, while nephew Konstantin, a Brown Shirt SA commander (René Koldehoff) tries to force himself into power by framing Martin with his secret crimes. But the mother and son relationship borders on the incestuous, and under Sophie's influence, Martin has chosen Frederick to run the company. Pulling the strings behind all of this intrigue is SS officer Aschenbach (Helmut Griem), a ruthless schemer who knows how to use the vices of the Essenbeck family to secure the steel industry for the Third Reich.


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