The film depicts the first month of 1945 when the Russian Red Army broke into the eastern part of Germany and forced millions of civilians to flee in the coldest of winter. While the Russians invaded Ostpreussen hundred of thousands of civilians were evacuated by ships. Gotenhafen was the last open port and ships left the town almost by the minute, overloaded by refugees. One of the last ships to leave Gotenhafen was the 'Wilhelm Gustloff', a former 'Kraft durch Freude' pleasure cruiser designed for 1000 passengers. Until today it is unknown how many people were on board but it is said to be around 10.000. The ship sunk without a trace and only a handful of people survived this hellish nightmare.

In 1815 Vienna, a corsetmaker falls in love with a valet.

Azerbaijan, 1919. The British hope to secure control of the vast oil fields around Baku by launching a series of terrorist attacks on them. Hans Romberg, a German who is working as a security officer, battles with the British chief agent Captain Forbes and his associates. (Description from Wikipedia)

An apple juice producer can't decide between his wife and his secretary and tries to commit suicide. Being committed to psychiatry, he falls asleep and dreams of adventures as Adam and Eve in heaven and hell.

The bailiff Engel is believed to be an heir to the millions via a fictitious newspaper advertisement. It is said to have a mink farm. Your debtors mean my nun that as a millionaire you can pay the debts. Some dowry hunters have seen it on them too. Paulchen, who shows the ad, has in Ms. Engel and in the end she also has a couple.

A man takes in three a dog and three runaway girls.

The inhibited, uptight Irene Wagner must take over running the seedy dance club the Green Cockatoo or lose her classic dance studio to creditors.

Eberhard Dobermann is a widower and a policeman who loves to control the roads and let people pay fines. Even with his neighbour and friend Jutta Schmalbach he has no pity. Thus he cannot understand why his daughter Karin just falls in love with a racing pilot called Walter. But it gets even worse when Eberhard wins a VW-Kaefer at the annual police party. So he has to learn to drive and thus even brings his teacher close to a heart attack.

When the wife of Sebastian Schumann left her family, he told his little daughter that her mother has died, because he thought that this was the easiest way for her to accept that her mother is now gone. But this was only the beginning of a lot of lies he tells her continuously, mostly about himself and his job. This way he also tries to hide away from her the fact that he had to quit his job as a traveler and is now paid much less than before.

While working as an accountant in his uncle's factory, talented young pianist Peter dreams of becoming a famous composer. When he shows his work to a producer, he manages to convince him to give him a chance. From time to time he gets bigger contracts that keep him more and more away from home and his young wife Elisa. When he "discovers" and supports a pretty ballerina in Munich, a rumor starts that he's having an affair. He fails to realize that his marriage is threatened.

Anny arrives in Munich to start a career as an actress, but soon ends up without money and job, sleeping on a park bench. When the police picks her up, she pretends to have amnesia and is taken to the police station. There she's surprised to get presented to her alleged parents. Not knowing yet what kind of game they play, she goes home with them and lets the rich couple coddle her.

Marlene Roedern is a student at the Salzburg Mozarteum, as is her boyfriend, Hans Hellmer, a promising conductor. Strothoff, a government cultural representative, engages Hans to conduct at Hamburg. While in Salzburg, Strothoff meets Marlene, who works as a tourist guide in order to pay her tuition fees. He hires her for an all-night tour of the city. She becomes infatuated with him and he with her. Hans is not happy about this.

A young shoemaker is arrested for stealing a small amount of money, and is jailed for fifteen years. Upon his release, he wants to get a permit to get a job and start anew, but finds that without a job he can't get a permit, and without a permit he can't get a job. Ensnared in the absurd net of Prussian bureaucracy, he can't see any way out. That is, until he enters a thrift shop and spots a Prussian officer's uniform that fits him like a second skin...

A car tells its story and the story of its seven owners during the years of the Third Reich.

This German slice-of-life drama is based on a very real postwar dilemma. At the time the film was made, there were over 3000 children living in Germany who'd been fathered by African American GIs. Referred to as "mischlings," these children were often treated as outcasts because of their illegitimacy and skin color. One such mischling is Toxi (played by herself), who is sent to live with her American father when her mother dies. At first, Toxi is welcomed with opened arms, but the father, who already has two children, has neither the time nor the money to care for the girl. Toxi is then bundled off to an orphanage, sparking a serious rift in her father's family. By concentrating on a highly fictionalized plotline, Toxi tends to ignore the thousands of other mischlings whose lives are far more complex and tragic than that of the film's central character.

While perusing a police photo, Hilde - an investigative reporter - recognizes a bracelet that she once owned while living in her native Romania. She seeks out the current owner of the bracelet, hoping that he can provide information concerning her long-lost father. Thus begins a curious chain of events...

This German drama tells the story of a musician who is killed and leaves his work unfinished. His apprentice is cleared of the murder and turns out to be the real composer.