Goodbye to Berlin consists of interconnected stories and novellas loosely based on the time author Christopher Isherwood spent in Germany between 1930 and 1933, during Hitler’s rise to power.
In Autumn 1930, as Christopher, an English expat, observes the world of Berlin around him. He sees connections all around and laments his own loneliness. In Berlin, Christopher lives at a boarding house run by Frl. Schroeder. She tells Christopher stories of her life before the Inflation, when she had money and did not have to run boardinghouse. Also living in the house are Bobby, a bartender, Frl. Kost, a prostitute, and Frl. Mayr, a middle-aged professional yodeler and Nazi. They all live together in relative peace until Frl. Kost claims that someone stole money from her room and Frl. Schroeder finds out that Frl. Kost and Bobby have been having an affair.
One day in October of 1930, Christopher’s friend Fritz Wendel introduces him to Sally Bowles, an English 19-year-old aspiring actress. Christopher and Sally become fast friends, agreeing that there is nothing romantic or sexual between the two of them. They bond over their lack of funds and their dreams of being wealthy artists, as Christopher dreams of being a successful novelist.
Sally moves into Frl. Schroeder’s boardinghouse, and she and Christopher continue to spend time together, often going out. Sally seeks out wealthy men to fund her lifestyle and career, and she and Christopher often spend the evening in clubs. Sally falls in love with a pianist named Klaus Linke, who eventually leaves her to take a job in England.
One evening after Klaus breaks up with Sally, Sally and Christopher meet a wealthy man named Clive. They quickly begin spending almost every day together. Clive pays for lavish outings and gifts for Christopher and Sally, and Sally hopes that Clive will help bankroll her acting career. One day, Clive begins to make plans for the three of them to travel the world together. However, the next day, Sally and Christopher arrive at his hotel to find that he has left for good, leaving them 300 marks.
The next morning, Sally finds out that she is always pregnant. She uses Clive’s money to pay for an abortion. After this chaos, Christopher takes a trip to Ruegen Island for a few months. When he returns, he visits Sally to find that the energy between them has changed. They fight and agree that they have outgrown each other.
A couple weeks later, a man (George P. Sandars/Paul Rakowski) visits Christopher asking him for money. When the man acts if he knows any actresses, Christopher sends him to Sally. Sally calls Christopher a few days later asking for his help: the man has scammed her out of hundreds of marks. They go to the police together. Eventually, the police find an arrest the man, who turns out to be a 16-year-old boy. Sally and Christopher make up, but never see each other again. Christopher dedicates the chapter to her, urging her to send him a postcard.
Christopher recounts his time on Ruegen Island after Sally’s abortion. He stays in a boarding house where he meets Otto Nowak and Peter Wilkinson. Peter, who is a neurotic Englishman, has a transactional relationship with the teenage Otto. In exchange for money, Otto spends his time with Peter and gives him advice. Peter, Otto, and Christopher spend almost all their time together. Sometimes, they go over to the more crowded beach. Otto and Peter often fight because Otto wants to stay out late and dance with girls despite Peter’s wishes. One day, Otto takes some of Peter’s clothes and money and leaves for Berlin. Peter and Christopher say goodbye the next day, never to see each other again.
When Christopher returns to Berlin from Ruegen Island, he begins to spend time with the Nowak family. When he looks for a new apartment, Otto and his mother, Frau Nowak, offer to let him stay with them. Christopher moves in with the Nowaks, sharing their two-room attic apartment. He witnesses the family fight with one another. Otto continues to go out dancing every night.
Frau Nowak consults doctors about her worsening health. In order to get away from the chaos of the Nowak household, Christopher spends his evenings at the Alexander Casino. The doctors eventually prescribe Frau Nowak time at a sanatorium. Before she goes, she and Otto get into such a bad fight that Otto slashes his wrist, though he survives.
After Frau Nowak goes to the sanatorium, Christopher moves out. One weekend, he accompanies Otto to visit his mother. They spend the day with Frau Nowak and her two roommates. Otto and Christopher each kiss one of the roommates, and Christopher remarks that his time in the sanatorium feels like a dream.
Next Christopher tells the story of his friendship with the Landauer family. He writes to Frau Landauer, with whom he has a mutual friend, after witnessing a Nazi demonstration in the fall of 1930. After that, he begins a friendship with the Landauer family, who are a wealthy Jewish family. Specifically, he spends time with the 18-year-old Natalia Landauer. However, that friendship fades after he introduces her to Sally Bowles, who makes an antisemitic comment and shocks Natalia with her open discussion of her sexual exploits. Natalia moves to Paris and gets married.
Christopher also befriends Natalia’s cousin, Bernhard Landauer. They embark on a strange friendship, in which the usually reclusive Bernhard subjects Christopher to interpersonal “experiments” to see if he is able to open up to anybody. Their friendship fades away. After Christopher leaves Berlin for good, he hears two men in a coffee shop in Prague mention that Bernhard has been murdered by the Nazis.
In the final chapter of the novel, Christopher recounts his final days in Berlin. He chronicles the Nazi party’s strict changes to the country’s laws and the violent acts of antisemitism and anticommunism. He befriends a group of young communists who resist the Nazi government. Before he leaves Berlin, Christopher and Fritz Wendel go on a “farewell tour” of Berlin’s dive bars, which have lost their luster. Christopher concludes the novel by saying he cannot believe it all really happened.
