Departing Hamburg in high spirits, 937 Jewish Germans have been offered safe haven in Havana, Cuba, in 1939. The passengers are looking forward to their new life. However, the whole voyage is actually a Nazi propaganda scheme and the passengers are never really intended to be allowed ashore once they reach their destination. After weeks of unsuccessful pleas they are forced to return back to Europe. Based on the tragic 1939 voyage of the SS St. Louis....

On the day Adolf Hitler comes to power, the German-Jewish family Glickstein comes together for a family dinner. Most of them however don't take the Nazis seriously. When young Leah reveals her plans to emigrate from Berlin to Palestine, her family starts disputing. Her father Aaron cant see any reason to leave Germany. But when Michael, Leahs younger brother, indicates that he actually is an ardent admirer of the national socialist movement, the family...