North

The fugitives initially hope to cross Germany and reach neutral Denmark. Instead, German bureaucracy repeatedly redirects them.

In Baden-Baden, the atmosphere changes drastically after the failed July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler. They move on to Berlin, where bombings have transformed the city into a landscape of rubble, fires and overcrowded shelters. Through Harras, a German doctor and officer known to Céline, they obtain permission to stay at Zornhof, a large rural property outside the capital.

There, they become trapped in a strange household populated by members of the aristocratic von Leiden family, servants, foreign laborers, conscientious objectors, refugees and government personnel. Everyone knows the Russians are drawing closer, yet normal routines and social hierarchies somehow continue.

Ferdinand, Lili, Bébert and La Vigue leave France expecting their trip through Germany to be temporary. Baden-Baden proves unsafe, and Berlin is considerably worse: air raids, fires, shortages and bureaucratic confusion dominate daily existence.

Harras manages to get the group transferred to Zornhof. The estate initially looks like a refuge from the bombed cities, but it soon becomes another enclosed Célinian nightmare. The household is divided among the German owners, displaced foreigners, workers, servants and assorted dependents. Food becomes scarce. Rumors circulate constantly. Violence, jealousy and fear erupt inside the estate while Allied bombers pass overhead and the Soviet advance grows nearer.

Ferdinand spends much of the novel observing the bizarre behavior of those around him and trying to obtain papers that will allow the group to continue north. La Vigue becomes increasingly difficult and detached. The aristocratic world of Zornhof begins falling apart just as completely as Berlin has.

Eventually Ferdinand succeeds in obtaining authorization to travel again. Their objective is Rostock and the Baltic coast, from which they hope to reach Denmark.