The German town of Gelsenkirchen in 1979: by chance Lilli discovers that her husband Kalle gets paid much more than the women at the photo lab where they work, even though Kalle has not been there long. Lilli and her two friends, Gerda and Rosi, are outraged and want to do something. For over 30 years, the Constitution enshrined equal rights for men and women, but nothing has changed in terms of wage equality. The three women have enough problems as it is. Lilli is struggling with the father of her two children, and he is cheating on her with another woman. Her selfinfatuated mother Charly, who has lots of well-meaning advice for her daughter, is not much help either. Then there are the unpaid bills and a broken-down car. Rosi, by contrast, works secretly at Photo Kunze – against the will of her husband – in order to uphold some semblance of family happiness. Gerda ekes out a lonely living in her summer-house following the death of her husband. But the three women refuse to be pushed around any longer. To file a lawsuit against their employer, they need the support of more than half their female colleagues. In standing up, they are not only taking on the management of their company, but also the male employees and their families.