'Take the advice of no one,' young August Kleinman is told by his mother, as around them in Hamburg the Nazi party is rising to power. With these words alone to guide him, August escapes to America, where he builds a fortune, a family, and a life, on his own daring terms. August's character and fate are shaped by a shocking encounter in a cave with a Japanese soldier, a lifelong passion for an Italian girl named Ginger and estrangement from his own children. Finally, August must face the sins of his life and seek atonement.