Horrifying certainty about the date of his death drives one man crazy.

Emotions and feelings should not be confused with sentimentality. Emotion is ancient and more powerful than any artistic expression. The film observes young couples facing difficulties while trying to move their love experiences towards clear decision making. A film full of ideas, details and associations, fictional scenes, documentary footage, archival materials and opera music.

Deputy director Sonja Winter is fighting against the closure of "her" zoo, where she lives with her daughter Hanna. However, city councillor Antonia Grewe is determined to push through her plan. Her right-hand man is, of all people, the architect Mark Fechter, whose eight-year-old son Tom is Hanna's friend. When Hanna learns that her old friend "Schulze" is to be put to sleep as part of the lockdown, she and Tom decide to kidnap the penguin...

A young peasant wants to marry, but the despotic sovereign chooses the bride for one night on the basis of the "ius primae noctis" and declares her fair game. In despair, the young woman turns away from God and towards a Satanic cult. After returning from a campaign, the tyrant pursues her at the insistence of the fanatical village priest. She is confronted and murdered. This act shakes up the peasants; they rise up against the lords.

Completely burnt out, without a job or prospects, but with her son Theo in tow, Olga has to bury her high-flying big city and career dreams and seek shelter with her parents back in her home village in her early 30s. While mother Lilo is happy to have the two of them with her, Holger continues to punish daughter and grandson with stoic disregard. Holger cannot forgive Olga for refusing to take over her parents' farm, breaking off her engagement to the young farmer Nico head over heels and simply moving to the big city.

When Julia, a frustrated literature professor, gets the opportunity to teach in Paris for one year, the dream of her life comes true. Living in a small, but charming hotel room, she is annoyed by her young neighbors because of their unmistakable sex life. However, she soon gets to know them personally...