Docu-drama, based on the screenplay by Strauß biographer and Grimme Prize winner Werner Biermann, traces the rise of the young Franz Josef: from the artisan milieu of Munich's Schellingstraße to one of the most prominent politicians in German post-war history - including experiences never before told on television by Strauß during his childhood and youth, during the Nazi era, during the war and immediately afterwards. These are experiences that shaped Strauß as a politician.

A man and a woman at an art exhibition share a fleeting moment of attraction, which neither can act upon. Days later, a chance second meeting leads to an innocent coffee and the two strangers – both married - toy with their unexplainable fascination for each other. Svenja is curious and finds herself in a hotel room with Roland, but she does not consummate an affair. A powerful executive at the large bank where Svenja's husband works, Roland is used to getting what he wants. He manipulates the transfer of her husband to Indonesia to replace a recently murdered bank manager. Unaware of Roland’s actions, Svenja now ceases to resist...

Martha and Helene Weiß - one a devout nun in a Swabian convent, the other a convinced atheist and mother. Two unequal sisters who almost only argue with each other. Martha's faith in particular is always a red rag for the younger and wilder Helene. But then Helene is involved in a car accident with her daughter and husband. However, when she wakes up in hospital and learns that her husband and child are dead, she feels no grief. She suffers from retrograde amnesia. In other words, she can still remember Pippi Longstocking, for example, but not her own family. Now it is Martha, of all people, who brings her to the convent and gives her support. But can she really trust this stranger?