The story unfolds in , a village in the South Tyrolean Dolomites where the couple spends their summer. While Gustav seeks the silence of the mountains to focus on his work—specifically his 10th Symphony —Alma finds the rural isolation suffocating and yearns for the vibrant social life of Vienna. The fragile peace is shattered by a triangular love affair :
In (Alma's Summer), Lenz Koppelstätter reimagines the tumultuous final summer of the marriage between the legendary composer Gustav Mahler and his wife, Alma Mahler-Werfel , in 1910. Plot Summary
: Koppelstätter portrays the marriage as a "balance of horrors," characterized by mutual resentment, psychological warfare, and humiliation.
