Ansis is a sign painter. Europe is caught in troubled times and the entire world is askew. Ansis’s homeplace does not remain untouched either. The somewhat authoritarian republic is replaced by what looks like communism and that is in turn replaced by national socialism. The authorities always need someone to paint useful signs for them and so a sign painter always has bread on his table. Ansis is in love with Zisla, the daughter of a wealthy jewish merchant, but that union cannot happen. Ansis falls for a Latvian girl and marries her. But the Jewish girl still remains in the man’s heart. Things in the love triangle get hot when the Nazis start hunting for Zisla who has become a communist.