Berlin 1849: The democrat Adolf Glasbrenner, known as Brennglas, publishes the political satire magazine "Phosphor" on a shoestring budget. He plans to marry his lover, the actress Adele Peroni. But the plan comes to a standstill when Adele is to make a guest appearance at the reactionary Royal Prussian Playhouse. A democratic journalist marrying a court actress? Impossible! Together with his friend Pulecke, Brennglas tries to disrupt Adele's performance with a bachelor party...

On August 12, 1961, eight people in three cars set off for Berlin from Leipzig. They want to go to the West. The initiator is the philistine Spiessack, who drives the others, who have embarked on the adventure with mixed feelings. It becomes a journey with numerous incidents and panic, which causes the different characters to clash. When they finally arrive in Berlin the next day, they are not allowed to cross the border. The only option is to return. At home, Spiessack is met by a policeman in his living room - with the slogan "We'll be back" written on the wall.

In the late 1950s, the collectivization of agriculture is in full swing in the East German village of Willshagen on the German-German border. Those in charge have to face many obstacles, especially from a large-scale farmer who is unwilling to join the co-op. All of a sudden, mysterious men in a fancy car appear in the village and show an interest in the rundown manor house. Gossip spreads quickly, and some villagers think there will be a re-parceling of properties and a land swap with West Germany. They assume everything will go back to how it used to be and even expect the count to return to his manor. In preparation, the situation in the village escalates at a fevered pitch.

Germany in May 1945: the war is over, men are returning home and a new life begins in the villages. After 12 years in a concentration camp, the "Red Shoemaker" also returns to his home village. His wife is dead and others live in his house: Gebhardt, an employee on the farm of the large farmer Winter, and his family. The "Red Shoemaker" comes to stay with Hübner and his daughter Agnes. Over the past terrible years, he had repeatedly felt the hatred within him and wanted to take revenge on those who had sent him to the concentration camp. But now he wants to look to the future and takes on the position of mayor here in the village. He works to ensure that the village is supplied with food and tries to ensure that the fascist ideology disappears from people's minds. In doing so, he also makes enemies.

In the small town of Benderath, Jewish high school student Jakob is the victim of hostility because of his religion. He forms the student group "Trojans", which supports Jakob and does not tolerate the hate speech.

Engineer Strebel′s apprentices think of nothing else but music and dancing, although they should really concentrate on their marks. Consequently, Strebel is anything but delighted with his pupil. To top it all, a TV show becomes interested in a performance by Strebel′s apprentices. To calm down their teacher, Jutta Fröhlich, who has already cast an eye on Strebel, makes him an offer: When they better their marks, Strebel would permit them to make a performance on television.

Carolin lives in the East and works in a West Berlin bar. After the building of the wall she tries to persuade Georg, a soldier of the border regiment, to let her cross over. He falls in love with her and defends her against a West German pimp with a punch to the jaw.