He could have had women, he could have climbed the ladder of his accountancy career, and he could have stood on the podium next to the highest in the land. If only he had wanted to! But Farssmann, shaken by divorce and unwilling to better himself, wants to remain what he is: an ordinary bookkeeper like you and me. And so the dollar deal with Mr. Osbar from Utah (USA) is not the first time he comes into conflict with the very palpable unreality of a country called the German Democratic Republic.

Master builder Bruno Kippnagel brings home his regular table acquaintance, the clever Egon Albert, who has a perfect command of the 'art of eloquence', to help him bring his somewhat over-excited wife back down to earth. But instead, Egon forms an alliance against him, relieves him of several marks and even kidnaps his maid Lotti.

It's Saturday lunchtime in a small town near Munich and there's not much going on. The local bank is already closed, doors and windows are barred. The few passers-by in the main shopping street do not notice that a violent crime is being committed behind these windows. When the police later take up the investigation, a young bank employee becomes the only witness. His statements seem contradictory. And yet it is several other people who now have to struggle with conflicts of conscience. The more gaps in the police's chain of evidence, the more serious the decision to tell the truth and risk their own happiness. It's Saturday lunchtime in a small town near Munich and there's not much going on. The local bank is already closed, doors and windows are barred.