Eberhardt Wintzen

Detlev, a single insurance clerk in his 30s, is kept dependent by his loving and caring mother and loses his girlfriend Karin as a result. Grief and an alcoholic chance acquaintance prompt him to place an ad for marriage. Detlev gets caught up in a whirlwind of friendships and love affairs: with the caring widow Karin; the well-to-do hair salon owner Ute Schöbel; the cultural editor Norma Goldbach, the photo reporter Kerstin and the student Andrea Binz. Detlev, who initially proves himself as a friend and advisor, but also as a lover, becomes increasingly self-confident. He is also successful in his work and finally emancipates himself from his mother. Although he loses "his" women in a turbulent odyssey, Detlev has transformed himself from a mama's boy into a thoroughly acceptable man.

After a long period as a prisoner of war, Joachim Ott returns home to find that his wife is now living with another man.

The young forester Rudolf is released from a mental hospital after suffering from a mental illness. His widowed mother accompanies the taciturn son to a vicarage where he is supposed to recover. There he meets the pastor's daughter Anna, with whom he immediately falls in love, and the two decide to get married. His mother is critical of the marriage and demands that her son conceal his stay in the "lunatic asylum" from his wife. This secret overshadows the young couple's relationship from the very beginning, and the burden of silence finally makes Rudolf want to take his own life. Only at the last minute is Anna able to save him from this stupidity.

1982: East German actor Erwin Gregorek travels to Hamburg to shoot screen tests for a film about the sinking of the ocean-liner Cap Arcona in 1945 - a catastrophe he himself survived as a concentration camp prisoner.

Karoline Gluth is approaching forty, has an 18-year-old son who is studying and is therefore independent. She decides to start a new life and says goodbye to the family inn on the island of Rügen, where she earned a good living as a cook. She buys a little house on the outskirts of Berlin - based on a photo. The reality, however, looks less favourable than the picture. The house is close to collapse and has an illegal occupant, Christian. She evicts him, but he helps her through the jungle of organising tradesmen and materials. In the process, she meets construction brigadier Herbert Kotbuß, clashes with him - and impresses him. Karoline struggles through, the money runs out, she even has to sell her car, and in the end the house is still pretty much a patchwork. But she has realised her ambition for herself - a new independent life begins.

Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.

On the way to the holiday camp, 16-year-old Steffi falls in love with Norbert, whom she has known for a long time from visiting grandfather in Pinnow. She made a quick decision to change her future plans and decided to become a milker, because Norbert is the newly appointed apprentice trainer for livestock farming in Pinnow. The grandfather, who is very happy about Steffi's visit, cannot prevent his granddaughter from making up her mind. Norbert himself was an apprentice in Pinnow and often suffered from the teaching methods of his predecessor. That's why he wants to do it differently.

1945. Peace still bears the traces of war everywhere. There meet the animated girl Xenia and the former boxer Henry. Being together gives them a sense of opportunity. She wants to break away from the semi-world milieu, he try a comeback in the boxing ring.