Winter 1968. Historian Dr. Dallow is released from prison. He is still trying to cope with and understand why he was put behind bars for 21 months for defamation of the state. His supposed "crime:" for five minutes he accompanied a cabaret chanson on the piano. The film shows what "ordinary socialism" was like, letting the audience feel the threat under which the people in the GDR had to live over many years.

Willi Kritz earns his living as a night watchman and corpse washer at the East German Pathological Institute at the Berlin Clinic. In the process, he found another source of income: he steals pathological exhibits and smuggles them to West Berlin disguised as a Berlin bear. His customer is Frundsberg, and the delivery always takes place in his Yankee sleigh.

"Mom, tell her he exists!" Taffy begs her mother Julia. Her stupid classmate doesn't believe that Taffy's father, supposedly a polar explorer, really exists. So Julia fibs that he's coming to visit for Christmas. But Robert has actually absconded before his daughter is born. Where to conjure up a daddy now? Julia persuades her colleague Volker to step in. Everything is going well when the "real Robert" turns up...

Two girls who couldn't be more different. Alina loves horses and would love to have one of her own, but her mother can't afford it. For Jennifer, the daughter of rich parents, horses are just objects that are used and then put away. The stallion Silverado belongs to Jennifer, but only Alina gains his trust. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the means to buy him. To make matters worse, Jennifer falls in love with Alina's crush Patrick and her mother starts a new relationship after separating from Alina's father. But after a tournament, Alina is the winner in many respects and Jennifer is forced to realize bitterly that money and scheming games can buy neither love nor happiness...

A woman who has grown estranged from her husband and is despairing of her life as a housewife takes a job as a sexworker after some initial hesitation. Since she performs her services in disguise, her anonymity is assured; but when her own husband suddenly seeks her services, the full extent of their marital misery is laid bare.

Josef Nötzli has swapped his job as an accountant for a chicken farm in Switzerland. He wants to be just as successful as his twin brother John, who he believes runs the Aurora Hotel in Berlin. In reality, however, John is one of the biggest underworld bosses, and the "Aurora" is Berlin's most famous brothel. When John suddenly dies in Bangkok, Max, John's partner, wants to prevent anyone in Berlin from finding out about John's death at all costs. First, with Josef's help, he has to get the black money from the bank. Under the pretext of having to accept the inheritance, Max brings Josef to Berlin. Once there, of course, everyone believes that Josef is John, the feared underworld boss, and so a maelstrom of confusion ensues.