Plot Summary

Bertha Kinsky works as a governess in the Suttner household and has an affair with Arthur Suttner, the son of the house, who is a few years younger than her. When the affair is discovered, she is forced to leave the house and gets a job with Alfred Nobel. Nobel has become very rich thanks to the invention of dynamite. The somewhat reclusive Nobel and the prudent Bertha quickly take a liking to each other. But one day, Arthur Suttner appears on the doorstep, having broken with his family in order to marry Bertha. Bertha marries him and life drives the penniless couple to Russia, where they are confronted with the horrors of war. This experience turned Bertha von Suttner into a successful author on pacifism. She continued to cultivate a close friendship with Alfred Nobel. Nobel detested the war, but gradually realized that he could go down in the history books as a "warmonger" thanks to the invention of dynamite.