East Germany 1978. Karoline and Robert, teenagers who used to live in the same house until Robert's family moved, meet again at this year's holiday-camp. First love, first nude experience, first self-made theatre performance of "Romeo and Juliet". A look at the east-German youth in the late seventies.

Young and pretty Emma is sentenced to anger management therapy after having thrown a toaster at her ex boyfriend and broken his nose. During the course of one day, her fate and her temper will be challenged several times. Will she be able to control her anger or will she lose everything?

Every year in the spring the pupils of the 8th grade in the GDR receive the 'Jugendweihe' and are admitted to the circle of adults. This year, Tim is ready. For him and his classmates, the day begins with a ceremony in the culture house, then he goes with the whole family in a hotel restaurant, to celebrate the event properly.

The school authorities want to read success stories in director Joachim Faber's reports. But they cannot simply be produced on an assembly line. Pupils, for example, use the wrong tone. The matter draws circles until the superiors finally talk about refusal to work. Director Faber is caught between the efforts to resolve the conflict with pedagogical means and the pressure from above.

Uncertainty, mistrust and sorrow torment the children and young people, war orphans, who find a temporary home in an abandoned castle in Thuringia in the fall of 1945. They are given a bowl of barley soup and a first inkling of safety, security and peace. The adults to whom they are entrusted must learn to cope with their new task as educators. Courage and self-confidence are necessary.