In Scotland in 1751, young David Balfour is shanghaied aboard a ship where he meets Jacobite rebel Alan Breck Stewart with whom he escapes to the Scottish Highlands, dodging the redcoats.

In 1596, the Dutchman Willem Barents sets sail on a long voyage with two ships to find a north-eastern sea route to China for the Amsterdam merchants. Ice masses and storms force the prudent navigator Barents to separate from Rijp, the captain of the second ship, so that he can organize a rescue operation in Holland. Trapped in the polar winter, Barents and his crew hope for help...

In 1757, the second year of the Seven Years' War, Frederick II the Great stands at the gates of Prague. He has been trying to take the city for weeks, as the enemy commander Duke Charles of Lorraine is inside. Frederick has just defeated him, but the tide could soon turn against the Prussians, as new Austrian troops are approaching. None other than the famous master thief Andreas Christian Käsebier is to sneak into Prague to open the gates from the inside. As a reward, the king promises him freedom. Käsebier accepts the offer because he is tempted to steal an entire city. But by chance, Käsebier learns that the king wants to betray him. After a successful battle, he is put back behind bars for life. This doesn't suit the master thief at all, especially as he has just fallen in love with Katka in Prague.

In San Marengo, master thief Cesare Giovanini’s heists leave local merchants profiting from hefty insurance claims. When captured, he’s granted luxury prison comforts, and even nightly “private visits”, in exchange for continuing his work under police supervision. Bored, Cesare escapes, only to be recaptured with an unexpected offer: a lucrative board position instead of bars.

This film is the second of a two-part historical and biographical portrait of the communist politician and anti-fascist Ernst Thälmann. Autumn, 1918: Somewhere on Germany’s western front, Ernst Thälmann, age twenty-four, is calling on his fellow soldiers to put down their guns and join him in the communist struggle at home. When Hamburg’s Police Commissioner blocks a much-needed food shipment to the workers of Petrograd, Ernst battles to see it allowed through. Until his murder on August 18, 1944, Ernst remained true to his political convictions in the face of many setbacks.

1936 in a small town near the Czechoslovakian border. Albert and Fritz are close friends. Albert lives with his aunt, who is loyal to the Nazis. His father, an anti-fascist, is in hiding, and Albert only sees him secretly from time to time. His mother is in prison. Fritz's father, a member of the Social Democratic Party, has officially withdrawn from politics. Fritz also does not know that his father is working illegally and is disappointed by his apparent inaction. Together with Albert, he tries to stand up to the Hitler Youth and the Nazi teacher Wagner. By hoisting the red flag on the town hall, he brings his parents into the hands of the Gestapo. His mother cannot withstand the brutal interrogation and reveals the name of a communist. The boys inform the man and flee with him across the border to Czechoslovakia.

A wrestler finds his political interest and activism through sport. However, this is extremely dangerous during the Nazi era and the workers' sports movement starts a resistance against the Nazi regime...

Antwerp at the end of the 16th century. For the second time, the city falls into the hands of the plundering and murdering Spaniards. Jan and Myga are just ten years old. While Myga's father tries to come to terms with the Spaniards, Jan leaves the occupied country with his father. When Jan has grown into a young man, he joins the Geusen and is entrusted with the best ship as helmsman, the "Black Galley". He survives numerous battles and dangers, but one day he is captured by the Spanish. He frees not only himself but also his beloved Myga from the hands of the enemy. In 1609, the Spaniards are forced to finally recognize the independence of the northern provinces.