GDR, August 1989: Hanna and Andreas became a target of the secret police and had to give up their plans for their future studies and desired professions. Instead, they face arbitrariness, mistrust and reprisals. Their only chance for a self-determined life lies in fleeing across the Baltic Sea. Fifty kilometres of water separate them from freedom - and only a thin connecting rope around their wrists saves them from absolute loneliness.

Miriam Maertens falls ill with cystic fibrosis and struggles quietly with the disease. Mastering a double life she falls in love and achieves her professional goals. When Miriam gets pregnant, everyone is shocked. When her lungs malfunction, it is a race against time to find a suitable donor.

Katharina, Ricky, Victoria and Malou live in an assisted living group. There they have built up an anarchic utopia as an alternative to everything they reject: Parents, school, rules. With social worker Ballack as a half-hearted guardian, things go well until their “live and let live” agreement starts to falter.