GDR border guard Gunter Rist is a young man from humble homes. During a swimming competition he meets Penny, a professor’s daughter from a good family, and they fall in love. However, their different social backgrounds get in the way of their happiness: Penny’s friends make it obvious that they are not willing to accept Gunter in their group. Although Penny takes Gunter’s side, she doubts if love can overcome all obstacles. In this state, she falls for the advances of her ex-boyfriend Bob and joins him on vacation. In the meantime, Gunter has an accident and is hospitalized. In the hospital, he meets the nurse Li who seems to be perfect for him.

Two 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier; but at the front, Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war.

During the Napoleanic Wars, members of the Prussian Lützow Free Corps steal a French war chest from the house of collaborator Kerstinn, but their captain Friesen is captured and sentenced to death. But Friesen is saved by French Sergeant Fleuron and they flee the occupied city together. Kerstinn's daughter Marie is disgusted by her father's disloyalty and has also fallen in love with Friesen. When she learns about a trap that is being set for Lützow Free Corps, she sets out to warn them with the help of her father's clerk Püttchen, a Lützow sympathizer.

High-school senior Peter considers the adults around him to be hypocritical, self-congratulatory, and immersed in the past. He gets suspended for writing an essay that his teachers consider to be a challenge to the state. Just Don't Think I'll Cry became one of twelve films and film projects-almost an entire year's production-that were banned in 1965-1966 due to their alleged anti-socialist aspects. Although scenes and dialogs were altered and the end was reshot twice, officials condemned this title as "particularly harmful." In 1989, cinematographer Ost restored the original version, and this and most of the other banned films were finally screened in January 1990. Belatedly, they were acclaimed as masterpieces of critical realism.

The years of the tsar’s adolescence and youth were permeated with deadly danger coming from some of the Boyars, the rebellious Streltsy and Tsarevna Sophia who aspired for power. But already at that early time Peter demonstrates a profound, bright intellect, a strong will and the sense of purpose, which help him disarm both his open and secret enemies.

German teacher Miss Platzke starts working in a graduating class. Since she is young and inexperienced, the students soon consider her incapable of doing her job. Their disrespectful and harsh behavior makes Miss Platzke even more insecure, and she reacts with rigidity: On the last day before winter break she orders them to write an unannounced essay, thereby provoking a spontaneous strike.

The last journey of Thomaskantor Johann Sebastian Bach leads from Leipzig to Potsdam. Already 60 years old, he hopes that an audition with the Prussian King Frederick II will not only bring him artistic recognition and renewed appreciation, but also an end to his grueling financial worries.

Four directors - four styles - four episodes, all relating the events of a single night which has entered the history books: August 12-13, 1961. There are thousands of complex narratives connected with the frontier drawn through the middle of Berlin, and each episode relates the story of a difficult decision made on that night...

Major Bert Harkus takes over the artillery regiment in Jesnack after graduating from the military academy. The troop proudly presents itself during an exercise. But apart from some good results in shooting, Harkus soon realizes that there are a few problems. As he does not believe that constant combat readiness is guaranteed, he orders far-reaching changes and does not only make friends. Only gradually do the troops pull themselves together.

Signs and wonders are said to be happening in Trutzlaff, a small village in Mecklenburg. The party secretary of the local LPG, Mattes Mathias, has the "second face", which has been passed down from generation to generation in his family and is first mentioned in the witches' church chronicle in 1681. This special bond with the church lives on to this day. Mattes engages in a constant but creative competition with Pastor Himmelknecht. But it is not only his weather forecasts that come true every day. With his miraculous powers, Mattes tracks down lost things and heals the sick. Mattes' reputation reaches far beyond the village of Trutzlaff to the district town. A letter from the village cobbler has even reached the Vatican. Both here and there, people have pricked up their ears and want to get to the bottom of the matter. ... The only one who keeps a clear head is Mattes. But then there is "The crazy smell of fresh hay"!