The successful surgeon Richard Hoffmann (Jan Josef Liefers) hopes to be appointed successor to the head of the clinic. But a long-standing affair with secretary Josta Fischer (Nadja Uhl), with whom he has a daughter, becomes his undoing. This makes him just as vulnerable to blackmail by the Stasi as a youthful sin committed decades ago.

Richard’s wife Anne (Claudia Michelsen) and his son Christian (Sebastian Urzendowsky) are unaware of Richard’s double life. Anne is a loving mother, and the family plays an important role in her life. She is a balanced character, but is more courageous in her approach to life than her husband. Christian is supposed to follow in the footsteps of his father, whose excessive expectations of him lead to an estranged relationship. Christian is all the more familiar with his uncle Meno (Götz Schubert), Anne’s older brother. As an editor, Meno has to comply with the requirements of the cultural bureaucracy on the one hand, but on the other hand he is close to the authors who are threatened by the censors. When he falls in love with the writer Judith Schevola (Valery Tscheplanowa), he finds himself in an even greater personal conflict. In order to gain the coveted place to study medicine, Christian is forced to do “voluntary” military service in the National People’s Army after graduating from school. He suppresses his feelings for his former classmate Reina (Josephin Busch) because he believes this is the only way he can consistently pursue his goals. In the NVA, he cannot stand the pressure, insults the “shitty system” and is sentenced to a term in military prison. At the end of his time in the army, Christian realizes that it is not only the mood in the country that has changed. His parents’ relationship has grown cold. While Richard faces the changes after a depression with no prospects, Anne has found her calling and joined an opposition movement. But Christian has decided to finally go his own way.