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A group of friends attempt to enjoy a carefree summer in the Swiss Alps while a conspiracy of hatred sweeps their homeland in this historical drama. In the early 1930's, Kurt (Ulrich Noethen) is a German journalist who, under the pen name of Ignaz Wrobel, has published a series of articles attacking the Nazi party as they steadily rise to power. Kurt and his girlfriend Lydia (Heike Makatsch) are growing wary of the shift in political tides in their country, and when a Swiss baron invites them to spend a few weeks watching his estate while he's away, they agree, thinking a vacation is just what they need. Kurt and Lydia take to the carefree Swiss atmosphere like ducks to water, and Kurt begins to wonder out loud if it's worth returning to Germany to keep up a doomed fight against fascism. Karl (Marcus Thomas), a pilot and friend from Berlin, makes a stop in Switzerland to visit the couple; while Karl is cordial, he also warns Kurt that his writings have been outlawed in Germany, and that he's been publicly declared a "traitor" for his anti-Nazi stance. Kurt, Lydia, and Karl are soon joined by Billie (Jasmin Tabatabai), a close friend of Lydia's who is a nightclub chanteuse. As Billie and Lydia bond, Kurt finds he's becoming increasingly wary of Karl, who displays an uncomfortable degree of sympathy for Nazi policies. Gripsholm is based on the novel Schloss Gripsholm, a semi-autobiographical account by Kurt Tucholsky, a German writer who was exiled to Sweden in 1929 and lost his citizenship during World War II.