April, 1945. As the Americans liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp, among the survivors are Jakob and Emmanuelle, barely more than teenagers. With help, they make their way to New York, resolved to make a new life on the Lower East Side, working at gruelling, poorly paid jobs.

Decades later, Jakob has achieved enormous success, showing his son Max that America is truly the land of opportunity. Max is a Harvard graduate with friends among the wealthiest families in the world, and he chooses a perfect bride to start the perfect American family. Max's lavish lifestyle is unimaginable to his cautious, old-world parents. But after the birth of his children, and with a failing marriage, he fears his wife is not the woman he thought she was.

Angry and afraid, Max must learn what it means to truly walk in his father's footsteps, setting an example to his children.