Two families in 1980s East Germany who could hardly be more unlike each other: The Kupfers and the Hausmanns. The Kupfers are a big cog in the communist system, father Hans and eldest son Falk are officers in the notorious Stasi secret service. Martin, the youngest, is a cop. The Hausmanns, in contrast, are from a dissident background. Mother Dunja is under surveillance as a folk singer, pretty daughter Julia already has a record as being politically unreliable at school. Both families become fatefully and dangerously intertwined when Martin falls in love with Julia, shattering the foundations on which both families have built their lives. The young couple will have to take on the world and both their families to see their love through.