Ranger

A young girl goes in search of her father and meets a man on a river bank. That meet leaves her with a lot of questions and also few solutions to live in a pluralistic society.

Karl Heinrich is the heir to the throne of the small European principality of Rutania, but he's a lonely child, not allowed to play with other children and knowing little about life outside the castle. When he reaches college age he is sent to attend the University of Heidelberg, and really starts to enjoy himself for the first time, even falling in love with Kathie, his only friend during childhood and the niece of an innkeeper. However, political turmoil in Rutania forces him to return. He finds that the only way out of declaring war on a neighboring country would be to marry the daughter of its king--but that would require giving up Kathie, the only woman he's ever loved.

Arno Jurmala is an appreciated nickel tycoon. He has an elegant wife and he owns a huge nickel factory somewhere in Northern Finland. When he is celebrating his birthday in the late 1930s, the guest list consists of significant people from different countries all over the world. What they don't know is that behind the neat facade Jurmala is a ruthless man without any morals or virtues. He can do anything to make more money. Without hesitating he kills his worst competitors and all his employees who have let him disappointed. And when the Second World War begins, he trades with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union - depending on who is winning at the moment. He also mishandles his wife, unable to have children, which has driven her to become a drug-addict.

A strange and unknown epidemic strikes a small, ordinary town. Everyone dies or is afraid of dying. From then on, all social classes separate and avoid each other for fear of contagion.