Pabst’s estate, Dreiturm Castle, is a dilapidated place in Tillmitsch with no towers. Pabst’s elderly mother, Erika, has lived on the upper floor for eight years, while caretaker Karl Jerzabek, his wife, Liesl, and their daughters, Gerti and Mitzi, occupy the ground floor. Since the annexation of Austria, the Jerzabeks have neglected and tormented the confused Erika. They intercepted Erika’s mail and sent the telegram luring the Pabsts to Austria.

On August 30, Jerzabek, now the local Nazi Party Group Leader, picks up the Pabsts and spouts propaganda during the wagon ride back to the estate. At the castle, Erika and Pabst have an emotional reunion. That night, all three Pabsts have disturbing nightmares.

At breakfast, Erika tries to explain the Jerzabeks’ cruelty but cannot communicate coherently. Pabst tries to behave “like a lord of the castle” and confronts Jerzabek about leaving their suitcases in the rain (103), the caretaker threatens Pabst, mockingly offering an excursion to a nearby jail for those awaiting concentration camps. He physically blocks Trude and speaks menacingly to her. Immediately after, Pabst and Trude discuss leaving. Pabst argues that he needs to settle his mother in a sanatorium first, but their conversation is interrupted by a terrible scream. The Pabsts discover Jakob tied to an attic post, nearly naked, with a scratch on his forehead. The Jerzabek girls, armed with an ax and a knife, claim they were “playing scalping.” Pabst declares they will leave the next morning, instructing Trude to pack only one suitcase so the Jerzabeks believe they will return.

The next morning, Pabst climbs a tall library ladder to retrieve hidden keepsakes. Jerzabek enters, unlocks the ladder’s wheels, shakes it violently, and lets it fall. Pabst imagines the scene as if it were a film, failing to realize the real danger he is in until he is falling.

Pabst awakens injured, having dreamt of Louise Brooks. When Pabst claims Jerzabek attacked him, Trude assures him that it was an accident. Before he can argue, she delivers devastating news: Germany has invaded Poland, war has begun, and the borders are closed. Pabst loses consciousness, feeling utterly trapped.

Now settled in Dreiturm Castle, Jakob attends Seyss-Inquart Middle School. He enjoys art class with Herr Kail and reflects on his teachers, particularly the cruel math teacher, Frau Klinzer. He has learned “that it’s dangerous to be unpopular in class” (121), so he has worked on building his reputation by playing pranks, like chaining Frau Klinzer’s bicycle. His German teacher, Herr Witschnick, once complimented his father’s film Westfront 1918, which improved Jakob’s social standing, but recent praise from Latin teacher Herr Reib has made him worry about being seen as a teacher’s pet. In order to squash that reputation, Jakob knows he has no choice but to “hurt someone.”

On the walk home with classmates, Jakob strategically provokes a fight with the larger Hans Krauber by insulting his village. When Krauber advances, Jakob kicks him in the knee, then brutally strikes his nose with a hidden stone. Krauber is left bloody and sobbing. Jakob hides the stone and pretends to check on his opponent, gaining the other boys’ respect while protecting his own self-interest. He makes them promise not to tell, and Jakob feels a sudden urge to break into tears and apologize.

Back at the castle, Jakob reflects on how his family now lives in the cramped caretaker’s apartment while the Jerzabeks occupy the main house. His father is physically and emotionally broken, rarely leaving his room. His mother does all the housework for both families and cares for Erika.

At the kitchen table, Jakob does his homework, which asks a question about two Hitler Youths trying to raise money for a memorial stone. When his mother sees his swollen hand, Jakob lies about the fight, saying he fell instead. Trude puts raw meat on the injury and reassures him they will leave soon. Jakob, however, thinks he is “getting along fine” (128) and is in no hurry to leave.

Kuno Krämer, now with the Reich Ministry of Propaganda, arrives at Dreiturm Castle. Jerzabek tries to block him, but Krämer uses his Berlin authority to gain entry. He finds Pabst frail and limping in a cramped room, reading Hamlet through glasses with a cracked lens.

Krämer dismisses Jerzabek, who eavesdrops at the door. Krämer warns that the Ministry has received denunciation letters from neighbors and someone inside the castle, but claims the minister is well-disposed toward Pabst. He offers to arrange a place in a nursing home for Pabst’s mother and, noticing Pabst’s book, suggests he could direct Hamlet. He formally summons Pabst to meet the minister in Berlin.

When Pabst attempts to refuse, citing poor health, Krämer pressures him by reminding him that he is not yet under arrest. As he leaves, Krämer opens the door and orders the listening Jerzabek to move the Pabst family back upstairs. Outside, Jerzabek demands Krämer’s full name and department, and Krämer reluctantly identifies himself as being from the Film and Cinema Law Division. Jerzabek’s questioning deeply unnerves him.

In his car, Krämer becomes ill and vomits by the roadside, lying to his driver that the food made him sick.

In Berlin, Pabst meets director Käutner and actor Heinz Rühmann. Rühmann speaks cheerfully of working apolitically at Babelsberg, where there is “not one Nazi, as far as the eye can see” and “[n]othing is out of bounds” (140). However, he explains that some “compromises” are still necessary; for example, Rühmann divorced his Jewish wife to keep working, but arranged a sham marriage for her and supports her with the government’s permission. Because Germany isn’t importing films, the government is eager for talented German filmmakers to be working. Both advise Pabst to negotiate with Minister Goebbels, but Pabst insists he will not make films for the regime.

Walking to his hotel, Pabst experiences Berlin as an expressionistic nightmare, “a distorted mirror world” (142) that is no longer familiar to him. He falls onto his bed but is instantly awakened—he assumes it is the middle of the night, but it is already morning, and his car is waiting.

At the Ministry, Pabst is led through a series of corridors that “[make] no geometric sense” (144). When he finally reaches the minister’s office, he is surprised to find Goebbels already waiting for him behind the desk. However, as Pabst watches, he has a surreal vision of watching a second minister enter and merge with the first. Addressing him as “Red Pabst,” Goebbels explains that what is said—that Pabst came voluntarily—matters more than what is not said—that Goebbels summoned him. He explains that Pabst had come of his own volition “to plead for peace and forgiveness” and offer penance (147). When Pabst tries to clarify that he returned to take care of his mother and has no intention of making more films, the minister reminds him that he can offer either a concentration camp or unlimited resources for a new film.

The phone rings, the receiver emitting a strange “howling” sound. The minister speaks into the phone for a moment, then smashes it in a rage. Feeling “drained of all his vitality” (150), Pabst capitulates. He apologizes, claims to have recognized his mistakes, and wants to help “build Germany.” The minister immediately gives him a script titled The Comedians. Pabst tries to refuse, but Goebbels dismisses his health concerns. He sends Pabst on his way, claiming that he’ll “find out” when Pabst needs to speak to him. Pabst performs the Hitler salute and leaves, believing he can delay the project indefinitely. In the car, he begins reading the script.

Trude attends a literary circle for the wives of influential men. With Pabst consumed by work, Jakob at boarding school, and Erika in a “luxurious” nursing home filled with “the parents of high-ranking party members” (156), Trude is isolated and lonely. Pabst comes home excited about the film, praising resources and actors, but Trude is jealous and senses her husband’s lingering affection for Louise Brooks. She has been engaging in self-destructive behaviors, including cutting herself, drinking, and having one anonymous sexual encounter.

The book club discusses a novel, The Star Violin, by party-approved author Alfred Karrasch. Trude found the novel “so insipid that it wasn’t even bad” (159), but forces herself to say positive things to fit in. The other women lavish praise on Karrasch, and Trude realizes the group almost exclusively reads this one author. One woman even suggests that Trude give the book to her husband for his next film.

When one woman repeatedly derails the discussion by jumping between topics, the host publicly reprimands her for breaking the circle’s “harmony” and asks her to leave. The woman is expelled and leaves in tears. Trude, however, is accepted into the group.