After fleeing to the West in 1961, peaceful times were supposed to begin for the Striesows. But Irene longs for the familiar GDR, fears her husband Dieter's supposed "second wives" and expects the Third World War every day. When the war finally breaks out in the living room, her children Ute, Wasa and Flori decide to help their mother's happiness along, with unexpected consequences.

The clownish security chief of a West German business is obsessed with protecting his factory from fancied and real breaches, especially from groups such as The Red Army Faction. Ferdinand's paranoia and methods can't be contained by his company. The sympathetically-drawn Ferdinand's ludicrous actions recall those of the cynical, disastrous axis between fascism and big business in 1930's Europe: satire of the rise of private security.

The story of the 18 year old prostitute Fanny who falls back into her old life after being released from a reform school run by nuns. The feeble-minded Frieder tries to liberate her, fails, and pays for it with his life.