Snow White asks the seven dwarfs for help, because if they don't manage to find out the name of a little boy (Rumpelstiltskin) within two days, her newborn child will be taken away from her. The journey takes the dwarves to a depressive, rhyming Pinocchio and the omniscient wizard Helge, among others, and all the way to the world of humans.

The contents of a black briefcase lead us into a superficially well-ordered life in West Germany in 1970, in a city that can be seen as representative of the entire country. In this briefcase: the meticulous documentation of an affair between the small business owner Hans and his secretary Monika.

Inspector Stephan Derrick has made it: the crime rate in Munich has fallen to the 0% mark. His prestige is high, and he even has his own elevator with a body-friendly entrance. However, the elimination competitions for the "European Song Contest" force an abortion of his trip to Lapland due to fatalities. The hit king Arno Hello, apparently a parody of Dieter Bohlen and Jürgen Drews, is determined to win the contest...

Otto and Leo are two men from Germany who have launched a successful business in which they import koi, the beautiful Japanese fish, for collectors in their native land. While on a business trip to Japan, Otto and Leo meet Ida, a German tourist who is studying fashion design. Ida begins traveling with the two men, and surprisingly develops an infatuation with the rumpled Otto instead of the handsome Leo. When Ida discovers she's pregnant with Otto's child, the two marry, and upon their return to Germany, Ida attempts to join in the business by creating a line of scarves decorated with koi patterns. However, the honeymoon proves short-lived, and Ida's presence creates a rift between Otto and Leo, as the latter sets up his own concern, raising koi with his new bride, Yoko.

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.

Rolf Köster has been working as a cashier in a small bank branch for years. Every day passes like the day before. He has a thirteen-year-old daughter who would rather write in a diary than speak and a six-year-old son who has to wear a bicycle helmet because he is constantly banging his head against walls. His wife organizes the whole family life, and Rolf stays in the background. But he has doubts as to whether he, who has "everything", is really happy. Then Rolf is unexpectedly given a week's vacation. He decides not to tell his family and to leave the house as usual. Rolf Köster begins to lead a double life.

Between Munich and Seville, the destinies of sixteen characters intertwine and intersect, missing each other or colliding head-on. They are all, without knowing it, at a pivotal moment in their lives...

The subject of male prostitution gets a distinctly zany and offbeat twist in Stellungswechsel (AKA Special Escort), Maggie Peren's tale of five male underdogs who promulgate themselves as female escorts in the city of Munich. Of that group, we meet policeman Gy, in hot water with his insurance company and enduring the vicissitudes of an on-again, off-again romance with comely Daphne; twentysomething Lasse, who lives with his mom and is pathetically henpecked by her; Giselher, a chronically unemployed former manager; Frank, a philologist who spends his days as a house husband; and Olli, a deli proprietor whose business is rapidly going under. These five conjure up the wild idea of charging for liaisons with emotionally needy women, but the scheme doesn't exactly go as planned - as none can even begin to anticipate the eccentricities or oddities of the female clients who turn up in response to their offer.

Two middle aged German brothers - one New Age and recently divorced, the other uptight and sceptical - travel to a Zen monastery in Japan in search of enlightenment, or perhaps just in search of themselves.

In 1991, the mood in East Germany is gloomy. Unemployment and poverty among the population in the GDR are high. Many people blame the Treuhand for the misery. Werner Stankowski, a trained computer scientist and computer specialist, is unable to find work despite hundreds of applications. His wife considers him a failure and leaves him for a rich man from the West. Only his best friend Rudi, who is also unemployed, sticks by him. Rudi's wife Gerda keeps the family afloat with a poorly performing erotic mail order business. Werner then gets a job interview with a computer company in Munich. The Wessis denounce Werner during the interview and humiliate him with Stasi slogans.....