Manfred, a lathe operator, and Manuela, a seamstress, marry and try to find happiness together. They have two children in quick succession and realize that their simultaneous material advancement is beyond their strength. Marianne stops working and Manfred's position in the company deteriorates....
The unemployed machinist Alfred "Scheff" Schefczyk moves from Württemberg to West Berlin full of hope, where he finds a job as a transporter. There, however, he despairs at the seemingly insurmountable dependency structures and the lack of solidarity among his fellow sufferers. The rent in the...
Horst Wolland is a welder in Berlin who tries to move up the career ladder to better provide for his family. He is on the verge of being promoted when the working conditions worsen, triggering a strike. Wolland stays out of it, but he also refuses to tell his manager who the strike leader is, so he...
