Karl Thiele

When Angelika moves to Leipzig, she is forced to rent a room at Mrs. Häublein’s for a start, since her parents will not follow until a few months later. Fellow tenant Thomas, a philosophy student, is not at all enthused about his new, pretty housemate. Because of Angelika he has to move into a smaller room. Furthermore, he is annoyed at her many male acquaintances, without sensing that his aggression might be prompted by jealousy. When Angelika’s father comes for a visit, he asks Thomas to keep an eye on his daughter. Thomas takes this assignment very seriously and finally realizes that he has fallen in love with Angelika.

At the textile company, everyone appreciates the work of 18-year-old Susanne, but nobody really considers her a woman—including Lutz, with whom she is in love. She sets about to make a change, but it is only when she realizes that she is being taken advantage of that a more self-confident Susanne emerges.

Martina and Jürgen are lovers in the GDR. She is studying economics in Leipzig, he is preparing for his master's examination as a violin maker in Altneukirchen in Vogtland. While Martina deals with problems of modern science and technology in her thesis, Jürgen is committed to the traditions of instrument making. This leads to friction and strains the relationship. And when Martina meets her former childhood friend Peter Struck in Altneukirchen, the center of musical instrument making in the GDR, who works here as a physicist at the research institute, jealousy also comes into play.