Jakob is a man who seems to have quite a lot going for him: He has a lovely girlfriend who wants to marry him; a successful career as an author; sunny weather. But it turns out he's not happy because of that nagging memory of witnessing his family's deaths during the Holocaust. He wants to be able to forget, but understandably, he can't. And that gets in the way of his happiness and of living, in general. He's carrying guilt that's driving away the woman he loves and keeping him from experiencing joy. So, he realizes he needs to embrace these memories and he does so with the help of what looks like a scruffy old man and possibly a little boy (or maybe the little boy is just Jakob in the past). And he does find love, but not with the blond woman from the beginning of the movie. It appears that getting over his past involves moving on to another woman. Yeah, that always helps.