Ferdinand Weitel, a forklift driver, is desperate: Insurance agent Arno von Mehling, a true sales talent, has had contracts signed in record amounts. Now Weitel is wandering through the corridors of the insurance company trying to save what can still be saved - on Shrove Tuesday of all days. The department for customer service and complaints is in a colorful mood and has no ear for Weitel's worries. Finally, secretary Annerose Waguscheit takes heart and tells him about the evening carnival ball "Traum-Police", where he can safely find Mr. Mehling.

Berlin in the 60s. The construction of the Berlin Wall not only divides the city, but also separates the Rechlin family. While mother Ingelore lives with husband Hannes and the youngest son in the eastern part of the city, the young, married daughter Beate lives in West Berlin. Even when she gives birth to the first grandson, the newly baked grandma Ingelore cannot visit her. Travel permits are only issued one year later. But the formerly so tight family bond is burdened by the long separation. Son Bernd also avoids the rest of the family, as his new girlfriend has just been released from prison because of attempted "republic escape". And so Mother Ingelore almost has to watch her family shatter.

Eight-year-old Matthias dreams that he will someday become a pilot and his divorced parents will get back together. He waits yearningly for his ninth birthday because his father has told him the story of Icarus, and promised to take him on a sightseeing flight. When Matthias' father doesn't come home, he is devastated. He runs throughout the city, talks to his friend about the relationships of adults, looks for his father at his desk, and gets himself into conflict with the police. As he sits alone on the roof of a house, he comes to the conclusion that Icarus didn't plummet to the earth because he didn't listen to his father, but rather because his father had forgotten him.

Germany at the end of World War II: Teacher Grübler lives in a small village in the Ore Mountains together with his 15-year old son Wolfgang. At school, the dutiful Grübler, a member of the NSDAP, teaches his pupils to volunteer for military service, but when his own son volunteers for the Waffen SS, he is nevertheless shocked and fears for his boy′s life. But Wolfgang starts to hate his father for his doubts: He thinks his father is a coward. In his desperation, Grübler chains and kidnaps his son to hide him in a dugout in the forest until the end of the war. In their shelter, father and son are fighting bitterly but when the Nazis who still believe in the "Endsieg" discover their hideout, Grübler sacrifices his life to save Wolfgang.

World War II is over and Heinrich, a young German boy, influenced by the Russians, starts to act according to Communist principles in a small German village.

A small town shortly before the end of the GDR: 15-year-old Ulla lives with her mother in a dilapidated old building where not even the electricity works properly. Economy of scarcity and national bankruptcy are visible everywhere. Only higher party comrades live in the lap of luxury. When Ulla meets Winfried after a summer bathing trip, the two fall in love. Winfried is the son of an influential general director and owns things from West Germany that others only dream of: a computer, a games console, a walkman. On an excursion with her biology class, the high school student discovers that a dacha is being built in the middle of the nature reserve and the creek has been dammed. Winfried's father turns out to be the culprit, but the mayor is on his side. Ulla rebels against this environmental destruction connected to political corruption and organizes a protest. Her activism not only endangers her own future, but also her first great love.