On November 3, 1918, a group of Austro-Hungarian officers in a makeshift hospital of the Austro-Hungarian Army, somewhere in the Karawanks, is completely cut off from the outside world by persistent snowstorms. A machinist's mate manages to reach the trapped men and bring them the news that the war is lost and the monarchy will be divided. Initially, they plan to shoot him as a deserter. But when the news is confirmed, everyone wants to return to their homeland. For Colonel von Radosin, his world collapses, and he shoots himself.