At twenty-six, Fritzi knows that time is running out in her ambition to become a successful actress. Pressed by her father to settle into a life more suited to a young woman of her means, she heads for New York and one last shot at the big time. Fritzi is determined to support herself in her career, but she soon finds the streets of Broadway paved not with gold, but poverty. While she struggles to secure auditions, her younger brother Carl drifts from town to town. When his long-time fascination for automobiles finally sparks into a talent for racing and a job at Henry Ford's Detroit factory, it seems his future is assured. But just as Fritzi discovers her vocation in the decadent world of silent pictures, so Carl's thrill-seeking will take him in an unexpected direction. For young Americans with German roots, however, the advent of the Great War is a shattering experience. As his cousin Paul, a pioneering news cameraman, films the horrific events taking place on the Western Front, Carl faces the threat of death as a front-line pilot in the skies above Europe.
