Max is a playboy in the decadent nightclub scene of Berlin during the early years of Hitler's Germany. While his lover and roommate, Rudy, performs at the local club owned by the androgynous Greta, Max partakes in sexual encounters with the club's clientele. One encounter with a soldier in an SA unit during the "Night of the Long Knives" exposes Max, Rudy, and Greta to the Gestapo. While Greta destroys evidence of his "other" life, Max and Rudy flee. With Rudy at work in a road gang, Max finds his uncle Freddie, who has connections to assist him in his flight from Germany, but is only able to acquire papers for Max. Max and Rudy plan their own escape from Germany but are discovered and put on a train to Dachau. While on the train, Max witnesses the brutality of Nazi domination, particularly in the form of one SS officer who eventually tortures and kills Rudy. Eventually, Max finds love, companionship, and dignity in the person of Horst, who supports him during their stay in Dachau.