American Professor Robert Traum takes a sabbatical and turns his back on a present without surprise, to live an adventure from the past. Back in the Old World, he researches the origins of his father and uncle, the famous Traum brothers: Rudolf, a famous novelist, and Samuel – once a notorious gangster in Chicago. While traveling through Transylvania and Bucovina Robert meets Tanya, a Government archivist. Together they find Sami, the last surviving family friend, a cinema projectionist who was chased out of his old movie theatre by a greedy local politician. While Robert helps Sami win his theatre, Sami gives Robert his identity back.