"Captain" Werner Träsch is quite astonished: the fresh wind of social change is also blowing among the tradition-conscious Berlin garbage workers. His boss, Dorn, has got it into his head that women should finally be employed as refuse collectors.

During their tour, Werner and his colleagues Tarik and Ralle get in the way of a young man who wants to "steal" expired groceries from a supermarket container

It was one of the great crimes of the Second World War: from 1941 to 1944, a total of 872 days, the siege and starvation of Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht on Hitler's orders lasted. Over a million people fell victim to the blockade, most of them dying of hunger. Countless of these starving people wrote diaries with the last of their strength, and cameramen filmed in the paralyzed city. Evidence from the hell of the siege, many of the film recordings, but above all the written memories on which this documentary on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation is based, remained under lock and key after the war. The voices of those who had suffered through this terrible time should not be heard by anyone, because they did not fit the pathos of the Leningrad heroic song that was officially sung. Most of the recordings come from women. The writers feared neither the enemy nor the Communist Party or Stalin, who often proved incompetent in providing for the population.

Water pipe burst and bomb alarm - Berlin in a state of emergency: Dorn and Gerald don't know where their heads are. The routes for the garbage collectors have to be reworked due to numerous road closures, chaos rages.

Garbage manager Rüdiger Dorn wants to move into his parents' house after the death of his mother - but that has to be brought into shape first. It goes without saying that Werner pitches in.

Der Sandmann investigates the intersection of history and memory as witnessed against the backdrop of post–Cold War Germany.

The three garbage collectors accidentally get on the trail of a protection racket in the Neukölln neighborhood: Snack bar owner Mohammed has to fend off an aggressive gang of youths and eventually resorts to drastic measures - but Werner discovers that the situation is not quite as clear-cut as it seems. Meanwhile, Tarik's extreme jealousy puts his relationship with Werner's daughter Annika at risk.

It's the 24th of December: The emergency department of a district hospital is preparing for a turbulent night: head physician Professor Singer, who has lost his wife and is even more involved in the work, and the surgeon Hannah Cornelsen, who talks about the work can forget that she and her husband have dwelt apart. On Christmas Eve, the hospital will become a microcosm in which a wide variety of people and destinies will meet - and for everyone, life will be in a completely different light next morning.