Deeply struck by her husband's death Ottilie Schadt takes her own life. Alma returns with Undine to America but Sonja refuses to go with them and takes an apartment at the Adlon. There she meets the Jewish pianist and journalist Julian Zimmermann and falls in love with him.
Against the will of his father Lorenz, Louis Adlon divorces his wife Tilly, with whom he has five children, in order to marry Hedda Berger. In 1921 Lorenz Adlon is run over by a truck at the Brandenburg Gate and dies shortly thereafter. Louis takes over the running of the hotel with his new wife and gets it through the turmoil of the inflation period. During the "Golden Twenties" the hotel blossomed, achieved world fame and was home to the most important personalities of the time.
Sonja begins a career in broadcasting. She loses sight of Julian Zimmermann until she is invited some time later to his Jewish wedding to actress Tamara Lieberkoff. A childhood friend, Sebastian Antennen, brother of Siegfried Geschirr, accompanies her to the wedding. Siegfried is a member of the Nazi Party Sturmabteilung (SA – what is now know as the Brownshirts) and is a leading-man in Berlin. After an appearance in 1926 by Josephine Baker in Berlin, there are racist protests by an SA troupe under the leadership of Siegfried and there is a fatal shooting. A protest at the Berlin Police remains inconclusive.
The 1930s, see Julian Zimmermann, who has separated from his wife, and Sonja Schadt together permanently. After the National Socialist seizure of power Sonja finds her broadcasting work more and more in conflict with the new rulers. Sebastian, meanwhile, is now in a leading position Broadcasting House. After the Reichstag fire Julian is arrested and sentenced to three years in protective custody.
