Summary

In the small village of Nussdorf am Attersee, in the mountains of the Salzkammergut, a seventeen-year-old boy named Franz Huchel watches a vicious thunderstorm sweep the hills. After the rains stop, he starts a fire in the hearth and waits for his mother, Frau Huchel, to come home. When she does, she is crying, and announces that Alois Preininger, one of the richest men in town and an ardent conservative, died during the storm. He was swimming in the lake, savoring the weather, when his heart stopped.

After Preininger’s funeral, Frau Huchel reveals to Franz that she has reached out to an old friend of hers, Otto Trsnyek, who was once her lover. Otto is a tobacconist, and Frau Huchel has secured Franz work in Otto’s shop. She tells him he is going to Vienna the next day.

The train ride...