Klaus Nietz

1780: When farmer Schmitzdorff in Wust, Brandenburg, is denied permission to marry his stepdaughter Sophie, he goes to Potsdam to obtain permission from the king himself. Because when he believes he is in the right, the proud man stubbornly insists on his opinion. But his stubbornness gets the better of him when he meets the dashing Wordelmann, Frederick II's personal grenadier, in an inn on the way. The latter sees the farmer as a welcome distraction from his otherwise dreary everyday life. Wordelmann tricks Schmitzdorff at his expense and pretends to be allowed to perform the wedding because of his military affiliation. And so the grenadier ends up organizing a wedding that isn't a wedding and takes the dastardly prank to the extreme until everyone involved has lost their laughter.

The pretty young crane operator Vera is the only woman in a team of dock workers at the overseas port of Rostock. She has to hold her own against her male colleagues. Fortunately, she has the support of her grandfather, who is the porter at the girls' hostel where Vera lives. Working with the impulsive Norbert, who promptly falls in love with Vera, is particularly tense. She much prefers the sensible and responsible Christian. Who will win her heart?

What the trick and illusion artists Lina and Richard Kortmann have to offer their audience is by no means sensational. Their performances are too antiquated, so that the Kortmann show is only available from the Artists' Exchange at low rates. This also threatens the realization of Mr. and Mrs. Kortmann's secret wish - a private pension in the Black Forest for their old age. But they are not so quick to throw in the towel: together they devise a new trick that not only conjures up rabbits and paper flowers or makes them "magically" disappear from the stage; Kortmann manages to conjure people out of this world.

In 1960, farmer Walter Wagemühl learns from the West that his life is coming to an end. In order to pass the farm into loyal hands, he sends his adopted daughter Catharina to the East to marry his prudent nephew Ewald. The surprising request puts him in a huge quandary. He is about to take his final exams and the university officials have earmarked an academic career for him. But Ewald wants nothing more than to become chairman of the socialist cooperative in Hullerbusch. And now this too...

At the freight yard of a small town in East Germany, a railcar loaded with Russian sparkling wine is causing a stir. Looters appear to have broken open the car’s doors, yet not a single bottle is missing. Major Bauer of the State Security Service and his team of investigators take on the case and quickly discover that something is amiss with the cargo’s accompanying documents.

USA 1964: Three young men are arrested on suspicion of speeding. As it turns out, they are employees of a civil rights center in Mississippi who are fighting against the racist Ku Klux Klan. The disappearance of the activists leads to a political scandal in the USA. There are riots and demonstrations against the president's civil rights policy. Despite smear campaigns in the south of the USA, a trial is held in which the background is to be clarified. But the real perpetrators have their own laws...

Driven by need and a thirst for knowledge, Krabat wanders through the impoverished country and falls under the control of the "black miller". Krabat defends himself against him, but his opponent still has the stronger means of power.

A mechanic, Peter Papenbold, is giving all his free time to volunteer in the children's sport school. When he's asked to switch to teaching permanently - it's a very difficult decision for him.