In 1523, young Thomas Müntzer arrives with his wife Ottilie in the Thuringian village Allstedt to assume the rectorate. As a follower of Luther′s teachings, he finds in the Bible not only reasons for clerical, but also for secular reforms. But when Luther turns away from the rural population after a discord with Müntzer, it is Müntzer who becomes the peoples′ spokesman. He is forced to go to Southern Germany, where he convenes with revolting farmers. But his way leads him back to Thuringia. In 1525, he and Heinrich Pfeiffer form the centre of the Thuringian peasant uprising in Mühlhausen, but their success is diminished by the fact that peasants and craftsmen don′t seem to be able to work together. In Frankenhausen, Müntzer becomes the leader of a peasants′ army that is set to fighting the ruler′s army – and sustains a devastating loss. Müntzer is arrested and sentenced to death by decapitation for his insurgency.

Ten-year-old Frantisek is traveling to Leipzig to visit his German friend Egon. On the train, he shares the compartment with three men. One of them, the bearded, hefty Blasius is polite but at times acts very confused. At the end station the two boys meet, but they must first of all get rid of Blasius, who lifts them up together with their luggage and carries them away. Leipzig is packed with tourists who have gathered for the famous Fair. The eccentric bearded fellow deals effectively with the traffic jam in front of the station. Blasius's fellow travelers from the train - inventors Prantl and Pirwitz, are at the fairground, boasting of their new invention and claiming it to be the greatest surprise of the entire Fair.

Early 18th-century Krakow: The poor student Simon works as a travelling musician in order to finance his studies, and the Polish freedom fighter Jan is on the run from Saxon troops. They meet in the carriage of Count Kovalska, where they fall in love with the Count’s daughters Laura and Bronislava.

In 1952, former farmhand Erich Kattner arrives in a Mecklenburg village from West Germany to take on a new farming job, which he had originally planned to do together with his wife. She has died shortly beforehand, and so he finds himself alone with the almost unmanageable work. His predecessor has capitulated, the new house and barn are only half-finished, tree stumps still have to be cleared in the fields and much more besides. He is skeptical of outside help. He asks Thekla, the maid of the richest farmer, whom he met on his first day in the village, to start working for him, but she refuses. When she does start working on Erich's farm after an approach from her "master", he only sees her as a work partner.

Drama about an impoverished family, a widowed mother and her two sons, trying to get by.

French milliner Yvette has a small fashion salon in Düsseldorf. The young gentlemen of society fall at her feet, but she is not accepted into their circles. That's why her former lover Maurice Daurignac manages to persuade her to pull off a big coup to get revenge on "high society". She pretends to be the heiress to ten million gold francs. A notary arrives from Paris accompanied by two supposed policemen and delivers the alleged money in a sealed parcel to the Bleichstetter bank in Düsseldorf, where it remains until the end of the inheritance process. The case drags on, and in the meantime the two are living large. When the bombshell bursts, Yvette has the young lawyer Dr. Hellmer to thank for the fact that she cannot be thrown to the angry citizens.

Biographical movie about Julius Robert Mayer (1814-1878), a surgeon and town doctor in Heilbronn, who studied heat for many years and was the first to correctly formulate the basic principles of the theory of mechanical heat and the principle of conservation of energy. Competing Prussian scientists laugh at him, and his life is full of misunderstandings and persecution. The film tells of his fate and his long and futile struggle for recognition of the results of his scientific work.

East German propaganda film about an American army base trying to take away land from a West German village.

The ship stoker Heini Holler leaves Greece for health reasons and reports to the consulate of fascist Germany. The consul sends him back to Hamburg. He had previously reported him to the Gestapo there as politically suspicious. On his arrival, Holler is immediately arrested. His comrades kidnap the consul and demand an exchange for Heini, which is to take place in Marseille. The Gestapo agree to this as a pretense and secure the support of the French police to arrest the kidnappers. However, the solidarity of the sailors in Marseille is stronger and Heini is able to cure his lung disease in the Soviet Union.

In 1930s Berlin, a woman’s life unravels as her unemployed husband succumbs to Nazi propaganda and joins the Storm Troopers, while her brother's anti-Nazi stance leads to his death, prompting her to confront her beliefs and make a risky choice.