In the beginning of the short story the main characters are introduced. These are Dr. Heidegger‘s four guest and the doctor himself, besides the setting is described as an old, dim and mystical place. First, Dr. Heidegger tells his four guests a small story which happened fifty years ago and is very important to him. Then he starts his first experiment dealing with a mysterious liquor from the so-called "Fountain of Youth". With the help of this liquid he hopes that a fifty-year-old and withered rose, which is very meaningful to him, would start to bloom again. His four guests appear not be interested in this experiment since they are not astonished when they see that this liquid makes the rose really bloom again. But this changes as soon as Dr. Heidegger lets his guest drink from the water. The liquor again takes its effect, this time the for guests start to rejuvenate. The younger they become the more of their earlier habits return to them, finally they are under a kind of delusion in which they behave like young adults. When they have been actual at this age they struggled for the favor of Widow Wycherly, one of Dr. Heidegger‘s guests. This fight breaks out again now, it even end in a small riot. The experiment ends when they are stopped by Dr. Heidegger who has observed everything but did not drink from the liquid himself. The rose starts to fade again, and the four guests also return to their real age. In the end, Dr. Heidegger says that he would love this rose still- though it is withered again-; furthermore he says that he would never use this liquid himself because he now sees that things and people cannot be rejuvenated forever in order to change their way of behavior then. Despite to Dr. Heidegger his guest decide not to abstain from the rejuvenating water. As soon as possible they leave in order to search the source of the "Fountain of Youth" so that they can drink from it whenever they want to.
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