Using the example of three generations of a Hamburg working class family, the rise of the working class from the founding of the Wilhelmin Empire to the First World War, over the time of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism to the destruction of the Third Reich.

The film tells the story of the smelter brigade of a steel mill whose members are connected by a strong comradeship. Among the workers are, for instance, young Rolf, whom everybody just calls "Lachtaube" and who always comes through for his co-workers, or the likable Hubert, who works as a simple smelter again after being dismissed as the head of the steel mill. Then, there is also the stubborn Manfred, who should have become a brigadier long ago because of his experience and his competence, but this privilege is refused to him because Manfred is not a party member. Ironically, it is Manfred who hears by accident about the plans of the mill to close down the old Martin furnaces – and to lay off the smelters. When the other men learn about the plans they enter the barricades for their jobs and force the plant′s management to face the workers′ demands and criticism.

Berlin Kreuzberg at the beginning of the 80s. Lawyer Hanna, daughter of a good family and working as a scientific social worker, gets caught between two sides. Her conservative fiancé Konrad wants to avenge the murder of his friend Theo on the Turks, but she loves a young Turk and wants to help the foreigners with their problems. There are also gray wolves and right-wing radicals, there is xenophobia and pressure creates counter-pressure - rebellion, bomb attacks and prison riots are the order of the day. An almost predictable catastrophe is on the horizon.

An East Berlin woman falls in love with a Swiss cook.

Tomas and his friends are happy in their town and school but must face the fact that some of the adults around are preparing to leave GDR and move to West Germany.

19-year old Peter is working to gain practical experience for his planned medical studies. But his life turns into confusion as he unexpectedly comes a father.

Young seminary student Franziskus has been ceremonially ordained. He wants to escape the harshness and injustice of the world and devote himself to the service of God in the quiet seclusion of a monastery. He is also hoping to forget the beautiful lady Aurelie, whose life he saved in a flooded brook and with whom he spent an amorous night. He knows that her father would never allow her to marry him. But the devil dressed in a monk's habit and under the name Viktorin intervenes in Franziskus's destiny and attempts to lead him astray. To do so he first uses the diabolical elixirs kept at the monastery as a rare relic. When the young monk gets expelled from the monastery, Viktorin prepares another trap with the help of Aurelie's stepmother Euphemie.

After a long period as a prisoner of war, Joachim Ott returns home to find that his wife is now living with another man.