Twelve-year-old Karli moves to the Alps, where his parents open a hotel. While helping with renovations, he discovers an old elevator that takes him back to 1938. There, he befriends a Jewish girl, Hannah, and a shoeshine boy, Georg. Together, they solve a mystery, and Karli realizes the dark fate looming over his new friends.

Erich „Rickerl“ Bohacek is a likeable loser who on the one hand tries to build up a music career and on the other still wants to be a good father for his little son.