The twelve-year-old Emil and his father are haunted by bad luck. To take a break from a series of family disasters, Emil is allowed to spend a few days with a friend of the family, the female priest Hummel in Berlin. In the train he runs across the slick Max Grundeis who anaesthetizes Emil and steals his savings of 1500 DM. When he finally arrives in Berlin, Emil and a gang of street kids, led by the cheeky girl Pony Hütchen, try to find the gangster, who haunts the posh Hotel Adlon as a hotel thief. Meanwhile, to prevent anyone from finding out about Emil's mishap, Gypsi, a member of the gang of kids, passes himself off as Emil, thus wreaking havoc on the home of the priest.

Germany, 1945: The 25-year-old Ellen is active in the resistance movement against the Nazis. When she meets Robert, a charismatic English secret agent, the two begin to have an affair. Ellen is ordered to spy on the German naval officer Hans. He is scheduled to serve as Chief Officer aboard the submarine U 864, which has been given a secret mission. Against her will, Ellen falls for Hans. Although he is engaged to another woman, Hans is strongly attracted to her as well. Eventually, Ellen succeeds in delivering critical information the submarines precise route to Japan. The English had suspected that Hitler planned to deliver his ominous wonder weapon to the weakened Japanese. The U 864 leaves its port. Because the war has been going badly for the Germans, the mood onboard is grim.

Anna and Christian Instrupp are a happy and childless marriage. They have a farm of apple production. But their lives are disrupted when the Anna's illegitimate daughter, Ines Arnold, writes a letter to her where she tells him that his adoptive parents have died and that she would like to know.

After the death of her husband, the attractive Eva takes refuge in her self-imposed loneliness and becomes known as a bitch. After a burglary in her picture frame store, she meets detective inspector Ferdinand Rixen. At the same time, master painter Harry Stockert enters her life. The two men cause chaos in her life. In the end, Eva even agrees to look after the 16-year-old pubescent boy next door, Dennis.