Berlin, in the 1920s. The former soldiers and comrades -Robert, Gottfried and Otto- have stayed together after the war to run a car repair shop. They live in the milieu of the impoverished middle class, the jobless, the unsuccessful artists and the prostitutes.

Robert finds solace in his love to Patricia but when she's diagnosed with tuberculosis, the friendship of the three men is put to a test. They sell their workshop to pay for Patricia's treatment in a sanatorium. But when she dies and Gottfried gets killed during a poloitical rally, the friendship comes to an end.

This novel deals with the inevitability of death and its significance as the basis of life. Life must always come to an end. What remains is friendship and love.

This is Remarque's first novel published in exile, in 1936. Despite its pessimism it remains one of his most popular and most important works.