In a small area of West Germany, the American military presence opened up a new world in the early 1950s and paved the way for individual freedom, freedom of movement and capitalism in Germany. In this time of upheaval, two friends are looking for their place and have to fight time and again with the 'old order', the conservative forces from politics, church and society. Confronted with the seductions of the new world, the two dissimilar women make an opposing development that puts their intimate friendship to a severe test ...
Julian is a 12-year-old boy whose family is just scraping by in the Ruhr industrial region of Germany in the early 1960s . When his mother and younger sister go away for a while, he is left mostly alone in the apartment while his father works in the coal mine. He has to confront the confusing world of adults and older boys and the older girl next door on his own. Finally events build up and threaten to tear the family apart.