Due to the fact that it is a story about people rather than a mystery, this story and Rinehart's book "K" share many parallels. Although it has a little romance running through it, the story's main focus is on how certain Americans living in Austria make ends meet and how their choices impact one another. An exquisitely depicted, compassionate, and frequently devastating character study. Although there are plenty of normal narrative twists to keep the characters apart, this is a charming story; they somehow don't seem nearly as forced as they frequently do in contemporary romances. Perhaps because they weren't at the time? It tells the story of Harmony, a struggling music student, and Peter Byrne, a doctor. Harmony has a problem with her house because her pals have left Vienna to go back to America, Scatch is getting married to her sweetheart, and the huge soprano isn't good enough. She needs to look for an inexpensive place after leaving their residence. She eventually locates a cheap room at the Schwarz Pension, where she also meets Peter and Dr. Anna Gates. Together, they decide to rent an apartment, and everything is going OK until Anna needs to leave for America.