Anna, a lonely mother who runs a party service, lives primarily for Tobi, her little son, whose father had abandoned them years ago. Thomas, a village police officer, befriends them, but various complications arise for various reasons.
The divorced florist Maria falls in love with the fated Holger, whose little son was killed two years ago in an accident with a driver's escape. Maria also has a son: the now-grown Niklas, a very talented pianist who has a great career in the eyes of his proud mother. But appearances are deceptive: little by little Maria finds out that two years ago Niklas gave up his career as a pianist because of a shocking experience that completely threw him off track. Is he perhaps the death driver?
In 1991, the mood in East Germany is gloomy. Unemployment and poverty among the population in the GDR are high. Many people blame the Treuhand for the misery. Werner Stankowski, a trained computer scientist and computer specialist, is unable to find work despite hundreds of applications. His wife considers him a failure and leaves him for a rich man from the West. Only his best friend Rudi, who is also unemployed, sticks by him. Rudi's wife Gerda keeps the family afloat with a poorly performing erotic mail order business. Werner then gets a job interview with a computer company in Munich. The Wessis denounce Werner during the interview and humiliate him with Stasi slogans.....
