The Thorwald family is well-off and contented when a tragedy strikes: the father is killed in an accident. Miss Thorwald takes over the raising of her children, four girls and two boys with the youngest already fifteen years old. She manages to keep them together in spite of the fact that their economic situation deteriorates after World War I. Never one to look too critically upon her brood, the woman undergoes a moving and gradual transformation as the adult activities of her children bring home the fact that none of them are what she had once imagined.
It was not until twelve years after the end of World War II that Irene Besser's husband, Martin Besser, long believed to be missing, returned from Soviet captivity. But the country and family have become unfamiliar to him. His wife Irene and her daughter Lotte built a new life all by themselves in the tough times of the post-war turmoil in the still young Federal Republic of Germany. With a lot of commitment and dedication, she runs her own department store today and has become an extremely successful businesswoman. Not only as a consultant, the lawyer Dr. Heinz Werther stand her more and more aside. It is becoming increasingly impossible for Irene to do justice to both, men and lover alike. She hopes that even without her, Martin will slowly find his way back in his homeland and open up perspectives for him..
