Director G. W. Pabst attends a poolside meeting, hoping to pitch a new film to Hollywood executives. The film, called War Has Been Declared, is about a luxury liner where passengers turn violent after a false alarm that war has broken out. When the error is revealed, they must return to “the farce of civilization” as if nothing had happened (32). However, Pabst struggles to convey his ideas in English, and the executives ignore his pitch, instead pressuring him to direct a melodrama called A Modern Hero. Pabst protests that the script is terrible and the actors inadequate, and he insists that he deserves artistic freedom. Bob and Jake dismiss his objections with empty flattery, insisting he direct their film first before they will consider his ideas.

Frustrated, Pabst violates Hollywood etiquette by raising his voice. The executives patronize him, promising to discuss his project after he completes theirs. As they escort him out, Pabst firmly refuses to make the film, declaring that nothing about the arrangement is acceptable.

Greta Garbo makes Pabst wait 45 minutes at her Hollywood home, watching peacocks in her garden while reflecting on the burden of her fame. She greets him in her dimly lit sitting room and asks about his new film. Pabst complains that A Modern Hero, a commercial flop, was a miserable experience due to a poor script, meddling producers, and a talentless lead actor. He admits he made the film because he is “homeless and helpless” and needs work (32)

Pabst pitches War Has Been Declared again, proposing a role where Garbo plays an elegant woman who becomes “bloodthirsty and extremely dangerous” during the ship’s chaos (33). Garbo declines, explaining it is an ensemble piece rather than a star vehicle suitable for her. When Pabst reminds her that he discovered her, she counters that he also discovered Louise Brooks and should ask her instead.

Garbo recalls being a nervous young actress on the set of The Joyless Street when Pabst taught her his method and invited her to a family dinner, predicting her future fame. Now, however, she definitively refuses his offer, and Pabst fears A Modern Hero’s failure will destroy his Hollywood career. After he leaves, Garbo watches him depart and reflects on her isolated existence, fantasizing about experiencing ordinary anonymity.

Electrical engineer Kuno Krämer attends a garden party at director Fred Zinnemann’s Hollywood home. The guests are primarily German refugees, working in the Hollywood film industry, and much of the conversation revolves around the situation back in Germany and the difficulty of starting life over in the United States. Krämer knows Zinnemann from their golf club, and he feels out of place among all the film industry people. He approaches Zinnemann in conversation with Pabst, who laments that his career in Hollywood is over after the disaster of A Modern Hero. Krämer praises Pabst’s early films before suggesting he return to Nazi Germany, claiming he would be welcomed with open arms and could make any film he wanted. He suggests that “Germany needs [Pabst]” and insinuates that he represents others (47). Pabst becomes enraged, threatening violence. Krämer calmly leaves, his recruitment mission complete.

Pabst tells his wife, Trude, that something unbelievable has happened, but when she asks what, Pabst remains silent and frozen in place, processing the encounter.

Pabst waits over an hour in a coffee shop for Louise Brooks, the actress he cast in Pandora’s Box. When she arrives, she teases him and complains about being unable to find work in Hollywood. Pabst plans to pitch his film idea to Brooks, but she intuits that he has already pitched his film to Greta Garbo and been rejected.

Brooks dissects their brief affair, explaining that she seduced Pabst in Paris after filming purely for amusement and brought another man to their next shoot specifically to prevent any continuation of the affair. When Pabst pitches War Has Been Declared, Brooks bluntly refuses, telling him his career is over after the failure of A Modern Hero and that he cannot offer her meaningful work. She advises him to appreciate his devoted wife and stop looking at her “with the face of a lovesick horse” (56).

Brooks leaves before her pancakes arrive, instructing Pabst to eat them. Alone, Pabst consumes the meal, wondering if he will ever see Brooks again. He feels despair but acknowledges that Brooks was right about the pancakes being delicious.

Aboard a French ocean liner returning to Europe, Pabst reclines on deck and reflects on filmmaking, the one thing in life he “had” to do. He recalls the grueling experience of co-directing The White Hell of Pitz Palu on a glacier with Arnold Fanck, suffering extreme cold and debilitating vertigo. He remembers attending the premiere of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis two weeks after his own film’s premiere and feeling artistically crushed by its brilliance. The White Hell of Pitz Palu was a good film, but Metropolis was “the best film ever made” (64). A steward passes and recognizes Pabst. He enjoys the recognition, pleased to feel like he is “someone again.”

Pabst recalls his childhood as a stationmaster’s son in Vienna, his decision to become an actor against his parents’ wishes, and his capture by French forces at the outbreak of the war. Interned in a prison camp, he discovered his directing talent. After the war, he returned to Vienna, worked in the theater, and then transitioned to film. He bluffed financier Mehlson into funding The Joyless Street, which became a breakthrough success.

In the ship’s cabin, Trude reads to their son, Jakob. As Pabst watches his wife, he thinks of Louise Brooks; he would have left Trude for Brooks, but he loves his wife deeply and knows “it was for the best” (71). A steward delivers two telegrams. The first announces that his French film, Mademoiselle Docteur, has been canceled due to lost funding. Trude begins crying, but Pabst insists there are many opportunities in France. The second telegram is from Pabst’s mother in Austria.

At a Parisian bar called Bois de la Bière, German-speaking refugees gather: Actress Ilse Hochfeld greets actor Adam Grosz and film critic Maria Cornetti. Writer Carl Zuckmayer arrives with poets Walter Mehring and Hertha Pauli. They exchange desperate news about visas, scattered friends, and those killed or imprisoned in Germany. Mehring recites one of his poems.

Pabst and Trude arrive. The group debates whether Fritz Lang’s film M is fascist propaganda. The group is shocked that Pabst and his family were safe in the United States and chose to return to Europe. Pabst explains that Hollywood was “very difficult” and he is “simply not quite ready to forget who [he is]” (80). Pabst recounts his Hollywood failure and the French film’s cancellation, stating his plan to return to America, claiming he has projects that Garbo or Brooks cannot turn down. First, however, they will travel to Austria to visit Pabst’s ailing mother in Styria, which is now part of Nazi Germany.

The other refugees react with horror, warning that entering Nazi territory is tantamount to suicide. Pabst dismisses their concerns, insisting his mother’s telegram was urgent and that since he is not Jewish, he will be safe. The conversation ends grimly.

The narrator briefly flashes forward, revealing the group’s divergent fates: Zuckmayer escapes to Vermont, the Pabsts go to the Reich, Mehring and Pauli reach America, Grosz dies by suicide in Marseille, Hochfeld survives a Spanish internment camp, and Cornetti is gassed at Majdanek.