Between 1924 and 1934, six children grow up in an apartment building in the Munich suburbs. Among them is the rather inconspicuous and melancholy Leo Knie, who has been in love with the pretty Marilli Kosemund since early childhood. Marilli is not averse to the young man's advances, but she wants to be conquered. But that is exactly what shy Leo finds difficult. So he escapes into harmless dancing with his buddies, pursues other girls - rather unsuccessfully - and resigns himself to his predetermined fate.

Young blonde translator Rebecca lives with her boyfriend ski instructor Marco in a mountain villa owned by her friend, nurse Laura. Rene, local cinema projectionist, steals Marco's car and gets into a car crash with local Theo, whose daughter, after being in coma for a time, dies. Rene suffers from partial short term memory loss and starts a relationship with Laura. Meanwhile Marco is looking for the man who stole his car and Theo - for the man who killed his daughter...

This film is about the difference between law and justice. A national socialist is accused of having stirred up some people against foreigners. A judge has to decide whether he has done so or if his statement comes under the constitutional given freedom of speech. This is compared with a trial in the third Reich. A young woman is being accused of having a relationship with a jew. The film confronts two views of law: the judgement is only based on the current law or the judgement may be influenced by socio-political events and sense of justice.

In a small town in southern Germany, Rick, Lutz and Georg try to live out their frustrations in extended drinking bouts. In the "Paloma" pub, they look for confirmation in sexual adventures. They rape several girls, and none of the victims have the courage to talk, because everyone in the small town knows each other. Then one day, the body of a strange 20-year-old girl is found behind the rest area not far from the town, abused and strangled. She was hitchhiking to Landshut. The police initially investigate without success. No one claims to have seen anything and the case is finally filed away as unsolved. Only years later does Andi, one of the suspects, begin to talk, apparently driven by his conscience. He claims to have been there when Lutz, Georg and the landlord of their local pub committed the crime. The wall of silence threatens to topple...

Former prisoner Frank Gormann is given a suitcase full of hundred-mark bills, which also contains a pistol and a photo of a man who is to be killed. Coincidence or an offer? Frank's "luck" seems perfect when he meets the beautiful Julia, with whom he wants to spend the money. But the coincidences soon turn out to be a calculated crime.

During the Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to question the decisions and sanity of Germany's Nazi government. The students form a resistance cell which they name the "White Rose" after a newsletter that is secretly distributed to the student body. At first small in numbers and fearful of discovery, the White Rose begins to gain massive support after a Nazi Gauleiter nearly incites a student riot after a provokative speech. At this point, the matter is taken over by the German Gestapo, who pledge to hunt down and destroy the members of the White Rose.