Prisoner Vladimir stabs his guard, Corporal Dr. Hunter. With his comrades he flees from the SS to the east. Uncle Franz and Aunt Hedwig join a trek west. When the front reaches the village, the other Jokehners must also begin their uncertain journey on covered wagons and rack wagons. The Russians now rule in Jokehnen. The village decays. After the Poles took over Jokehnen, the German villagers must leave the village immediately. In the winter of 1945/​46, the major, mother Markowski, Margarethe Schubgilla with her children, Maria and her aunt, Tulla with her mother, Else Behrend and her two children, the Wittkuhnsche with Hermann, crammed into an off-road vehicle, headed west, one towards an uncertain future.