The main character in the play is the young German Udo Berger, who takes his first holiday in a tourist area on the Costa Brava in Catalonia with his girlfriend Ingeborg, staying at the Hotel Del Mar, where he used to spend his holidays with his family when he was a child. Udo is the war games champion in his country, and enjoys good health and financial independence. Instead of leaving the hotel to enjoy the beach, he prefers to stay in his room and study the strategies of his game The Third Reich.