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The successful elderly writer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice. He leaves Munich to gain new inspiration and doesn’t yet know what awaits him. Along the way he receives a number of omens of a fateful future, but he is unable to make sense of them at that moment. He is only annoyed by the noisy fellow travelers. Once he arrives in Venice, it is quite a challenge for him to get to his hotel: he is taken by a gondolier to a hotel on the beach of the Lido, an island near Venice. Because he has traveled south for the sun and warmth and the weather forecast is rather poor, he soon decides to leave Venice. Due to problems with his luggage, his plan is canceled. In the meantime he meets a Polish boy named Tadzio. He is immediately taken aback by his beauty. Tadzio reminds him of his own youth and makes him feel young again. He even has his hair and face done especially for the boy, so that he looks respectable again. When he learns that there is a cholera epidemic in the city, he immediately wants to inform Tadzio’s relatives and advises them to leave the city as quickly as possible, but in the end he does not dare to visit them. He himself cannot bring himself to flee Venice and thus Tadzio; throughout Venice he pursues his idol. The Polish family is about to leave after everyone has been advised to evacuate by the authorities. Tadzio is playing on the beach with friends. While Von Aschenbach watches the boys playing, he suffers a heart attack. Before he dies, he sees Tadzio walking towards the sea.
