Content Warning: This section contains discussion of murder, infant loss, and genital mutilation. It also mentions anti-trans and anti-gay bias.

Lukas Carlé’s hanged body is discovered in the woods by the village postman. His death is ruled a suicide, but word soon spreads that he was murdered by five of his students. Frau Carlé is relieved, but Rolf is plagued by guilt because he wanted to be the one to kill his father. He falls gravely ill, prompting Frau Carlé to send him to South America to live with his Aunt Burgel and Uncle Rupert in the small village of La Colonia. La Colonia was founded in the 19th century, when 80 European families were shipped to South America with the intention of creating “a perfect society [. . .] regulated by sound Christian principles” (98). Its inhabitants are uniformly blonde and blue-eyed, and none of them speak Spanish.

On arriving in La Colonia, Rolf’s health is quickly restored. He initially tries to live a stoic and rational life, but a consensual incestuous relationship with both of his cousins opens his mind to pleasure. Though Rolf enjoys La Colonia, he knows it is an artificial society far removed from the rest of South America.