Linz, Austria, 1899 -- Even as a 10-year-old child in grade school, Adolf Hitler exhibits antisocial characteristics. He is detached from family and friends. Without empathy, he is destructive to those around him. Only his adoring mother, Klara, thinks he is a normal boy and even she is not able to penetrate the emotionless armor that surrounds him.
As a young man, Hitler aspires to be a great artist and applies to the Academy of Visual Arts in Vienna despite his then dying mother’s objections. When his application is turned down, he lands, homeless, on the streets. Hugely disappointed and angry, it is at this time that Hitler hears the anti-Semitic speeches of Karl Lueger, the Mayor of Vienna, and begins to espouse Lueger’s theories that the Jews are to blame for all that is wrong in Germany.
Homeless, jobless and with only a small inheritance from his late father and in a frenzy of patriotism, Hitler joins the German Army. Though he eventually pressures his superiors into giving him the Iron Cross for bravery, his career in the Army is undistinguished.
Munich, Germany, September 12, 1919 -- Hitler first meets members of The German Worker’s Party when he serves as a spy for the Army to keep tabs on possible civil uprisings. When he asserts his opinions about German purity at a meeting, he is invited to join the group and become a speaker. He finds an avid audience to whom he rails against indifference, foreign invaders and the group he considers Germany’s biggest threat, the Jews.
Ernst Hanfstaengl, a German living in America, and his wife, Helene, a German-American, are an aristocratic couple that arrive in Germany as Hitler is becoming more popular with the masses.
When Ernst meets Hitler, he sees an opportunity to use Hitler to advance his own position and to protect the interests of the rich. He becomes Hitler’s advisor and, at his suggestion, Hitler adopts the small moustache, which becomes a trademark, and the swastika symbol. Hanfstaengl invites Hitler to his home to speak at a dinner party for wealthy patriots. However, neither Ernst, Helene nor their guests are prepared for Hitler’s remarks when he announces the need to eliminate the Jews.
Ernst has a school friend, Friedrich Hollander, who, along with his wife Blandine, presents the local cabaret. However, as Ernst aligns himself with the anti-Semitic Hitler, his and Friedrich's once close friendship is quickly shattered.
Hitler hires Ernst Röhm, head of the SA (Storm Troopers also known as the Brown Shirts), to protect him from his enemies and provide fighting power. Though their goals are different, an alliance is formed between them. When German Prime Minister Gustav Von Kahr offers Hitler a position in the government if he will quit making speeches and keep a low profile, Hitler asks Röhm to control his men who have a penchant for violent behavior. Röhm isn’t sure he can comply. Hitler asks General Erich Von Ludendorff, the famous World War I hero, to join him as a credible figurehead.
Meanwhile, respected journalist Fritz Gerlich, who also writes Prime Minister Von Kahr’s speeches, meets Hitler who reveals to Gerlich his hatred of the Jews. Gerlich realizes how dangerous Hitler is and advises Von Kahr to handle Hitler very carefully.
When Hitler learns that Von Kahr has double-crossed him and has no plans to honor his agreement with Hitler, he decides to move forward with his own government takeover. As Von Kahr makes a speech to the various other political factions, Hitler and Röhm overtake the beer hall where he is speaking and Hitler announces his own agenda. He leaves Von Kahr in Ludendorff’s charge, not realizing that Ludendorff will be tricked into releasing Von Kahr and his generals. Von Kahr quickly dispatches the German Army to stop Hitler and Röhm’s men and Hitler is injured in the skirmish that ensues.
Ernst Hanfstaengl, a witness to the events, calls Helene and tells her that things have gone terribly wrong and that he wants her to take their children to the country. As she is preparing to do so, Hitler appears at her home, hysterical and waving a gun. When he attempts to commit suicide, Helene prevents it and the police arrive to take him away.
Hitler and Ludendorff are put on trial for high treason and though Hitler pleads guilty, he gives an impassioned speech where he claims that he was merely attempting to take back what had been stolen from Germany. His speech is met with great enthusiasm by the party sympathizers in the courtroom; even the judge is impressed by him. But, Gerlich, watching from the gallery, is disgusted and enraged.
Gerlich prints the inspirational speech that Von Kahr was delivering when overtaken by Hitler and his men. He tells the German people about Von Kahr’s initiative that called for peace. Gerlich also reveals Hitler’s true agenda of intolerance, hatred and anti-Semitism and exposes him as an agitator who will take advantage of their fear. He admonishes the German people to denounce Hitler and his party and warns them that the worst thing that they do can do is to stand by and do nothing.
Nonetheless, the court has been swayed by Hitler’s tirade and though he is found guilty of high treason, he receives a ludicrous sentence of five years in prison with eligibility for parole in a mere nine months.
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