 "It s a ship of fools," says the philosophical dwarf, Glocken (our narrator), of the Mexican vessel sailing to a pre-Hitler Germany. The fateful cruise follows the lives of its passengers including disciples of Naziism, wealthy Jewish men, sleazy dance troupes and bitter lovers along the 36-day-voyage. From the sad love affair between the ship s doctor, Wilhelm Schumann, and La Contessa, a doomed Spanish noblewoman, to the fading relationship of two young, American artists, the ship serves many characters.