Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Liza is a sophisticated woman who lives in a ‘high class world’. Her husband Peter speaks Russian with a German accent, he owns a chocolate factory. They live in a cold world of minimalistic interiors, holding back their emotions. There are no children in their expensive countryside house but there are expensive greyhound dogs. However, Liza can’t stay stone cold calm, as she has a secret from her past that burns her from inside, one that she would be happy to get rid of forever… And somewhere near there is a burnt room, and teenager Ulya has the keys.
November 1944. On the flooded isle of Walcheren, Zeeland, thousands of Allied soldiers are battling the German army. Three young lives become inextricably connected. A Dutch boy fighting for the Germans, an English glider pilot and a girl from Zeeland connected to the resistance against her will, are forced to make crucial choices that impact both their own freedom and the freedom of others.
The historical drama set during the Second World War centres on three people whose paths cross: a Russian aristocratic emigrant and member of the French resistance, a French collaborator and a high-ranking German SS officer.
It is a story about the Soviet worker Pyotr and the German engineer Hans, who came to the USSR before the war on a business trip. At a Soviet plant the German team works in cooperation with Russian specialists. Once Hans makes a mistake which causes the explosion of the furnace and human losses. Hans finds himself at the mercy of Pyotr, the only witness to his actions near the furnace. Pyotr also depends on Hans, because Pyotr’s very presence near the furnace entails accusation of subversive actions and a death sentence. Mutual suspicion gives way to silent sympathy and later friendship. They even look like each other, both have small children. Pyotr secretly leaves the town with his family but Hans feels loss rather that relief at the disappearance of the embarrassing witness.
During an unannounced visit to Berlin, Jakob and Hanna let their three grown up children know that they are no longer able to support them financially. Karla, Arnolt and Sonni seem to live successful city lives; but, on closer inspection, they are in the middle of different life-crises, which have a common cause: lack of independence. After a big family quarrel and a painful revelation of life-lies, every single relative is made aware of how little he or she knows about the others – though still interdependent.
