During the Nazi occupation of Poland, a captain of the German army is stationed in an occupied house. A fourteen-year-old boy whose father works in the underground against the fascists lives in the house with his aunt, who appears to be above suspicion. The captain brings his girlfriend, an actress called Rosemarie, to live with him. The boy is utterly fascinated by her. Teasingly, Rosemarie calls him Amor, but otherwise she hardly notices his adolescent passion. When an older boy asks Amor to help him stage an attack on the captain, the boy finds himself in deep conflict: If he takes part he will at last be taken seriously by the others, but Rosemarie might be killed in the attack… His Excellency is just trying on a new purple robe, and The Tailor involves him in a sophisticated discussion about »What is culture, what is nature?« A journeyman announces that the barbarians are coming. His Excellency is distraught, for the barbarians can only have one thing in mind: to overthrow him. The tailor wants to complete the fitting in peace, but sounds of a tumult issue from the next room, and the barbarians refuse to be put off with fashion journals any longer. His Excellency, who is afraid of being recognised and beheaded on the spot, manages at the last minute to disguise himself in a monk's habit before Socco, the barbarians' leader, bursts in. Dressed in a badly tanned loincloth and tennis shoes, and carrying a sword, he announces that he has come from the Caucasus to put an end to the decadent society and breathe new life into it with his ideas.