Some Germans neighboring France saw the revolution and were fascinated by it, but they soon saw the wars it provoked and it expelled them from their country and they were crossing the Rhine homeless. On their way, they pass through a small German city, and the story begins in this place. You start and finish it in less than a day. This is because the people of the city rushed to the public road to see these homeless people and to carry to them what supplies they could provide. Among the people of the city was a boy, Herman, whose father was a hotel owner. He went out carrying to these homeless people what his mother had collected for him in terms of food, drink, and clothing. He saw among these people a very beautiful, stoic and sober girl. No sooner had he seen her and talked to her than she broke his heart, so he returned to his family, driven mad by her.
His father and mother were very keen to marry him, and to marry him to a rich girl who had huge wealth and a high position in the city. His father was very keen on this marriage because it brought both wealth and prestige, but the boy did not show an inclination towards this marriage, but rather showed an aversion to it, so his father became angry and his anger intensified, and the boy left sad and depressed.