The lawyer Ella Wolf and her childhood friend Florian come from the same place but live in different worlds. He stayed in idyllic Bad Friedlingen and continues to run the organic farm of his deceased parents. For him, the modern milking machine means maximum change. Ella, on the other hand, is about to take the next step in her career in a renowned Munich law firm: one more test and she will become the youngest junior partner of all time! At her best friend's hilarious wedding party, the two meet and get closer than ever! When Ella returns to her home village six weeks later, she has two serious issues in her luggage: Firstly, she is pregnant by "Flo", which nobody but her knows yet, and secondly, she is supposed to push through a destructive construction project for an important client, which of all things is fought by Florian as the leader of a citizens' initiative.

Werner, Ralle and Tarik are a well-coordinated trio at Berlin's waste disposal service. Werner has been with the company for a long time and is a real leader - someone who says when he doesn't like something. This doesn't always go down well with his superior Dorn - a former refuse collector who has made it to the top. What nobody suspects yet: Dorn is planning modernization measures.

East-Germany, 1984: Frank Korbach is looking forward to attending drama school, while his rebellious best friend Thomas is refusing to do military service. Together with the adventurous but naive Alex, Thomas plans to make a desperate attempt to escape to the West. Knowing that he might never see them again, Frank accompanies Thomas and Alex to the frontier. Suddenly, they are confronted by a special unit of the Stasi, the East German secret police. Although the boys manage to avoid capture, Frank's old life is gone forever - he has now become a fugitive. Frank's father Kurt Korbach is stunned by the escape. Unknown to his son, Kurt is a Major in the Stasi. Convinced that Frank is innocent, he persuades his superiors that he alone can bring his son back. Together with the suspicious Colonel Frey - a time bomb waiting to explode - Kurt sets off to track down the runaway boys.