Spring, 1865. The last spring in the childhood of Lukas Bienmann. Nothing forebodes the calamities about to befall the 13-year-old boy and his family in the peaceful town of Liebenberg, Prussia. Nature awakens to new life, and Lukas is happy, for his mother is about to give birth to her second child, and Lukas' grandfather, Brunneck, is coming from Canada for the event. Brunneck, however, brings only discord to the family. Though Lukas is excited by his grandfather's plans to take the family back with him to Canada, his father Karl will hear none of this. Tempers flare and Lukas' mother, deeply troubled and frightened, goes into early labor - and dies. Brunneck blames Karl, and demands to take Lukas with him. Bewildered, Lukas flees into the night. Lukas accidentally witnesses an altercation between a local nobleman, Count Otto von Lebrecht, and a gambling partner to whom he owes money. When Otto kills the man in a rage, Lukas tries to flee, but is caught by the murderer.