The petit bourgeouis Weber family lives in sectored Berlin after the Second World War and struggles to make ends meet. Karl Weber, an unemployed cashier, observes from a distance how his son Ernst and daughter Inge participate in the construction of a new socialist society. However, he cannot understand their vision and instead confides in his other son Harry, who is trying to obtain quick money through illicit business. These two different life paths...

Sonya, an art student, loves the med student Dieter. And Siegi, a factory worker, loves the bricklayer Eddie. At a lavish Carnival party at East Berlin’s art school an unintentional exchange of partners begins. When everyone takes off their masks, Dieter realizes that he did not spend the evening with Sonya, but with Siegi! Director Slatan Dudow, a collaborator of Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler, was a celebrated DEFA director, yet East German officials...