In April 1975 Commando Holger Meins occupies the West German Embassy in Stockholm. In exchange for the hostages they want to force the release of RAF-prisoners in Germany; Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, etc. The occupation lasts twelve hours and ends in defeat for the occupants, left is a blown-up Embassy and four people dead, two of them executed by the occupants. Karl-Heinz Dellwo, 23 years old, is arrested and sentenced to jail. In 1995 he is released from prison. Today he lives in Hamburg with his girlfriend Ella, also a former terrorist. Karl-Heinz is trying to create a new life for himself, but he is always haunted by his violent past.

West Germany in the 1970s. Many artists, journalists and intellectuals were branded as sympathizers of Baader-Meinhof's left-wing terrorism. The parents of the director, too: Margarethe von Trotta and his stepfather, Volker Schlöndorff. With extensive archive materials and film clips as well as Margarethe von Trotta's private diaries the film portrays one German family and the society of the time.