In 1919, when the war was finally over, Maria Apollonia was a young tailor living in Düsseldorf, Germany. She met an American soldier who was stationed in Koblenz and fell in love with him. He was a Captain of the 3rd US Army’s Medical Corps. When he had to return to the US with his troops, he promised her that she could join him there later.
But this never happened, as on the way back to the US his ship sank. This was the only information Maria heard. They never saw each other again. Still, there has always been someone to remind her of this romantic episode: Karl, the son who never got to know his father.