Hans-Dieter Knebel

In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column, Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.

Reni Wirth is a woman in her "prime," in her late thirties, a housewife like millions of others and seemingly fulfilled by caring for her husband and two teenage daughters. Despite slight irritations about her mere existence as a housewife, she takes good care of her family. A preventive breast cancer screening completely disrupts the apparent family idyll. Although the worst fears are not confirmed, after days of terrible anxiety, Reni begins to understand the misery of her personal situation: her daughters will soon be on their own, and she can hardly return to the profession she once learned. What will be left for her? Reni takes a courageous but uncertain step toward somewhere where she suspects she will find "freedom."

A little boy meets an old man who shows him that life can be beautiful if you look at it from the right perspective.