Eden takes place in Palestine between 1940 and 1946. It’s the story of a young woman, Samantha, who’s married to Dov Ernst. Both of American descent, they have immigrated to Palestine because of their Zionist convictions. Dov is a communist and architect. He dedicates his life and energy to building the country, neglecting his wife Samantha who does all she can to help him. Kalman, Samantha’s brother, a capitalist, also leaves the United States for Palestine where he hopes to make a colossal fortune buying land from Arabs. His father warns him that there isn’t much land over there, it’s not like the United States. But Kalman leaves, his head full of dreams of the Middle East… Kalkofsky, a German Jew, also lives in Palestine. A bookseller without news of his family left behind in Europe, he’s a solitary man lost in his books and dreaming of a land of peace where Jews and Arabs could live in harmony. He lives with Sylvia, a young woman revolted by British politics that forbid Jews entry into Palestine. War rages in Europe and the terrible news of the fate reserved for Jews filters across the seas. Dov joins up with the Jewish Brigade and heads off to fight in Europe. Samantha and Kalkofsky start a relationship, or rather, they join together in solitude. Kalman returns to the United States to be with his sick father; Palestine wasn’t the place for him. Sylvia is busy making bombs and participates in anti-British attacks. She’s arrested. Dov returns from the war. One night he boasts about having raped a German farm girl, a “fascist.” Samantha leaves him. Kalkofsky learns that his family is dead, exterminated in the camps. There’s nothing to hold him, here or there… he kills himself. Henceforth, Samantha is alone… free.