Heinz
When East Germany ceases to be separate from its western half, one would think that things would be better for the couple in this movie who have been plagued by sexual and political harassment of the most virulent kind, but , they are completely unprepared to cope with the swift changes that are transforming their familiar yet desperately unhappy world. In the story, Heinz is a laborer in the cooperative apple orchards of an East German village and has married his sweetheart Lena. She works to take care of the sickly wife of the co-op's manager and also must cope with the sexual attentions of the perfidious man. One day, after discovering this state of affairs, Heinz blows up and assaults his wife's harasser, which only serves to land him in jail. While in prison, the state secret police (the Stasi) get him to help them entrap the co-op manager, whom they believe is going to try to defect.
Mathias
Ena lives on a remote farmstead. One stormy night, hydraulic engineer Sieghart appears at her door after his car gets stuck in the mud. Although Ena falls in love with Sieghart, she decides to marry her fiancé Mathias. She is incapabale of hiding her true feelings from her groom-to-be, and on the night before the wedding, Mathias forces the pair to join him for a carriage ride – with deadly results.
