When laid-off California architect, Max Hollander, inherits his grandparents' house in Bavaria, it seems like the perfect opportunity to start over. If all goes well, he'll sell it and make enough money to tide him over. More importantly, he hopes taking his antagonistic son Ryan on the trip will help rebuild their trust in each other and maybe even give them a chance to investigate a longstanding mystery that has haunted their family. Twenty years ago while Max's mother was staying at her parents' house in Riesen, Germany, she and her father disappeared, never to be heard from again. Now, as they search unsuccessfully for that same house, Max and Ryan become lost until they serendipitously meet three Germans who help them find it. But their luck is short-lived: before day's end they will get swept back in time . . . with no way to return to the present. Realizing the same thing may have happened to his missing relatives, Max and companions set out to find them. Their quest soon embroils the hapless group in a murder investigation that widens the rift between father and son and places both lives in danger. Inherit the Past is a story of family, love/relationships, guilt, and redemption.