A mature, rich and bored woman called Elisabeth is taking a ride with the “Rheingold”, a first-class high-speed train of the seventies along the river Rhine. In the train she is meeting her old school mate and lover who is working as a waiter and falls in love with him again. Her husband, a busy politician, realizes what’s going on and tries to catch the train to face his wife and her lover in a fatal showdown.
Germany, 1981. State Security Service agent Harald Love is sent on a secret mission from the GDR to the Federal Republic, to verify an informant with the code name "Heinz" who is suspected to be a double agent. A job that may change his life forever...
Part satire, part drama, this movie tells the story of Anton Paulisch (Herb Andress), who has been living and working as an actor in Rome. When he hears that his mother is mortally ill, he returns to Munich to be at her bedside, but doesn't quite make it. He and sister Astrid (Elke Haltaufderheide) rediscover their friendship, though, as they go through a number of crises. Meanwhile, Anton makes an effort to find work in Munich, and runs headlong into the silliness and pretensions of the "New German Cinema" movement.
