Hardly anyone knows the name Max Emden today. Born in Hamburg in 1874, the son of a respected Jewish merchant family, Emden was a department store king who built an exceptional art collection. In 1928, Emden moved to Switzerland, but the Nazis gradually confiscated his assets and he died impoverished in 1940. Almost 80 years later, Max Emden’s heirs are still fighting for compensation. With the help of explosive documents, private film footage, and historical testimonies, the film recounts the rise and destruction of a Hanseatic family through the violence of the Nazi regime.