In 1937 a fire-opal ring owned by a Jewish family accompanies a group of people through a myriad of dangers during a turbulent time. As war breaks out, all of Rosa and Otto Herzfeld's possessions are packed into a single push-cart. As their situation goes from bad to worse, the ring is their constant companion – looking after it almost as much as they do their young son Benjamin - as if the rare stone is their last hope for happiness, dignity and a brighter future. They carry the fire-opal safely through terror, denouncement, imprisonment and air raids till one day the ring is lost, thereby convincing them that their fate has been sealed.

About the author:

Born in Vienna, Brigitte Neumeister studied drama, ballet and voice. At the age of 17 she was engaged by the Saarbrücken Theatre, and then the Hamburg Theatre followed by the Viennese Raimund Theatre and the Josefstadt Theatre (1968—1989), and finally since 1989 by the Viennese Volkstheater. She has appeared in many German-language television films and drama series. She is the first woman to have played Mephisto as well as the one-actor drama, "Am Swimmingpool", heralded as a great television success. She is the recipient of many awards amongst which include, "Das Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst" (The Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art) and the German-language equivalent of the Oscars, the "ROMY".