In 1931, budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. He falls for street sweeper Heinz, paying medical bills for the boy's sickly mother, to the disapproval of her other son, Nazi Gerhardt.

Matt Smith
as Christopher Isherwood

Imogen Poots
as Jean Ross

Lindsay Duncan
as Kathleen Isherwood

Perry Milward
as Richard Isherwood

Toby Jones
as Gerald Hamilton

Pip Carter
as W. H. Auden

Alexander Dreymon
as Caspar

Faolan Morgan
as Pieps

Issy van Randwyck
as Frl. Thurau

Clare Louise Connolly
as Frl. Schmidt