The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Seethaler, Robert. The Tobacconist. House of Anansi Press, Inc., 2017.

In a small region of the Austrian Alps called the Salzkammergut, a boy named Franz lives with his mother, Frau Huchel. Following the unexpected death of a prominent figure in Franz's small town, his mother sends him to Vienna to apprentice with an old friend of hers, Otto Trsnyek, who runs a small tobacconist's shop. Franz journeys to Vienna and is overwhelmed by the size of the city, but takes a quick liking to Otto, who insists that Franz spend his downtime reading newspapers and studying politics. After some time, one of Otto's customers, Sigmund Freud, catches Franz's attention; he and the famous doctor form a fragile friendship, and Freud encourages Franz to seek out romance. Taking Freud's advice to heart, Franz heads downtown to some fairgrounds and spends a night with a Bohemian girl there, whose name he does not learn.

Franz loses track of the Bohemian girl after their night together, and political tensions begin to rise in Vienna. The local butcher, Rosshuber, vandalizes and defaces Otto's storefront to punish him for continuing to sell to Jewish people. Unsure of what to do with the yearning he feels for the Bohemian girl, Franz journeys to Freud's home and calls on him there, bearing a gift of Freud's favorite cigars. Freud encourages Franz to either forget the Bohemian girl or go out and find her again, and finds himself endeared to Franz by his earnestness. Freud thinks this over and returns to the restaurant where he and the Bohemian girl had their date, managing to secure an address from the waiter there. He discovers the address is in a decrepit part of the city, and successfully finds the girl there; he learns her name is Anezka. They spend another night together and have sex, but Anezka disappears in the morning.

Distraught over Anezka's flightiness, Franz decides to go to her house and wait until she comes out of it. He follows her to a grotto in the city, where he pays to enter and discovers that Anezka is a performer in a bawdy stage show. After the show, he confronts her outside of the venue as she exits with her pimp, Heinzi. When Franz learns that Anezka is a sex worker, he insults her, but immediately regrets it. Meanwhile, Freud is becoming increasingly irritable in his old age, and has finished a particularly exasperating session with a Mrs. Buccleton when Franz appears on his doorstep eager to talk about Anezka. They take a walk, and Freud's optimism is restored by the clear-sighted, cogent understanding that Franz presents of the work Freud does through his psychoanalysis. Meanwhile, the Austrian chancellor officially capitulates to the Reich, and Otto's shop is vandalized again.

As Otto goes about cleaning and repairing the damage to the shop, three men from the Gestapo arrive and accuse him of selling pornographic material to Jewish customers. Franz tries to take the blame, but Otto silences him and allows himself to be taken away by the Gestapo. Franz notes that Rosshuber appears to have been the one to turn Otto in. Though he is worried and sad for Otto, Franz is also excited to be in charge of the tobacconist's, and sets about gussying it up and ordering new windows. Business declines, but a small group of customers continues to come in. Franz also starts writing down his dreams at Freud's suggestion and pasting the transcripts to the window of the store, which people like to stop and read. After some time, Franz begins going to the Gestapo headquarters every day and demanding to know where Otto is, behavior that gets him threatened by the guard there. Eventually, a package arrives in the mail informing Franz that Otto has died in custody and returning his personal effects, including a pair of one-legged trousers. Furious, Franz marches over to Rosshuber's and informs him that Otto is dead before slapping him across the face. Rosshuber is so ashamed that he cannot manage a rebuttal.

Contemplating the political situation in Vienna, Franz becomes concerned for Anezka. He returns to the grotto and discovers that, though Heinzi is no longer in the picture, Anezka has begun dating a Nazi officer. Defeated, Franz returns home, only to learn that Freud and his daughter, Anna, are fleeing Vienna. Franz sneaks into Freud's compound for a final farewell and then watches him leave at the train station; though Freud does not see him, Franz and Anna lock eyes. After watching Freud go, Franz comes to a conclusion. That night, he sneaks onto the roof of the Gestapo headquarters and raises the flag of Jerusalem and Otto's one-legged trousers in place of the Nazi flag. This gets him arrested by the Gestapo, who take him away and shut down the shop. Years later, Anezka walks by and tenderly takes one of Franz's dreams from the shop widow for safekeeping.