Nikki and Caroline are two beautiful city nymphs working in present day Berlin, though their memories sometimes carry back to ancient Greece. Through them four Berlin stories interlock. The first is called The Red Princess and concerns the sometimes silly, sometimes fateful doings of members of the now deposed German nobility. The second, Willing Peter, takes up the issue of will in a city notorious for its failed triumphs. The third story, Pan Willie, literally makes a connection between Germany and ancient Greece, doing so with the use of a jazz trumpet. The last story, Herr Gluck and the Fat Boy, recounts outrageous doings amongst Berlin's fringe residents.