Born into a loving, wealthy German family, Katarina Von Rahmel, protected and cherished, becomes a prima ballerina but finds her career destroyed by the horrors of war. Betrayed by the Nazi officer she has married, she escapes a prison camp and joins her brother and others as they fight back against Hitler's regime.
In the aftermath of WWII, they continue their battle against oppression as Berlin teeters on the brink of a Stalinist takeover. Becoming estranged from her family, except for her Catholic priest brother, Katarina abandons her daughter and marries again to escape the difficult post-war living conditions in the bombed-out city.
Her new husband objects to her continued anti-Communist activities and eventually is able to take her home with him to Hawaii to begin a new life, but Katarina's terrible memories from the war and her fierce independence cause her unwitting betrayal of the children she would fight to keep.