1979 film by Lothar Warneke

Inge Herold is in her mid-thirties. She is divorced and lives with her 15-year-old son. She works as a psychologist and social worker and is involved with a married man. Suddenly, Inge finds out she may have breast cancer, which would mean an operation the very next day. The 24 hours before the planned surgery puts her under enormous psychological pressure and she begins to reevaluate her life. With heightened awareness of matters of everyday life, she realizes that what she previously considered meaningful, was actually void of any real meaning.

After a hot and steamy company party, Sibylle and Harald, both in their late thirties, spend the night together. They meet each other later and resolve to enter into a strictly intellectual relationship. He is a widower with two sons, with the younger son just entering school. She is single and relatively satisfied in her relationship with a married colleague. Suddenly, Sibylle quits her job at the company's staff canteen and delves into her new self-appointed task with fiery fervor: to pep up Harald's family life, turning his house, garden, etc. inside out. Harald, a quiet man used to peace and his own habits, starts to flee from her on a daily basis. Without love, she figures, the relationship will not work out. But it does not take long for the pair to miss each other's presence.

生物学家乌韦·波尔津（Uwe Polzin）正准备为他的博士论文进行答辩。这是让他回顾自己过去生活的一天。他的妻子阿拉（Alla）正在考虑离婚。两人一直都希望在工作和爱情中找到满足，他们也知道这并不容易。乌韦的科研工作占据了他大部分的时间和精力，而对阿拉和两个孩子来说，往往没有剩下太多时间。阿拉同样深爱着她作为口译员的工作，但为了家庭，她常常不得不做出妥协。她感到自己被利用了。乌韦将自己的生活与姐姐鲁思（Ruth）的生活进行了对比，鲁思是一名医生，为了全身心投入事业，她选择放弃了家庭。对乌韦来说，这并不是一个可行的选择。在这一天，阿拉也思考了很多，当乌韦出现在讲堂准备答辩时，阿拉坐在了听众席中。 （来源：《电影之城巴贝尔斯贝格的第二人生：DEFA电影 1946-1992》）

Franziska Linkerhand, a qualified architect divorced and up to now a kind of "master pupil" of a renowned architect, moves to a small town to meet new challenges. She wants to work in an architect's bureau in her new place of residence. Franziska is a person who does not make any compromises; she makes great demands on herself. But she is also full of ideals and dreams. She would like to help build a town in which people feel good and at home. However, Franziska soon realizes the discrepancy between her wishful thinking and reality. The acting municipal architect Schafheutlin, who has long since become ossified in his ideas and norms and who, in many respects, is supposed to be Franziska's partner; quickly becomes her adversary. Because of Franziska's rigorous manner, he is, however, seized with a restlessness which is new to him. Franziska's productive creativity is infectious... She gets to know Trojanowicz, who arouses deep passionate feelings in her and he responds to her in the same way. But Franziska's uncompromising challenge is too much for Trojanowicz. Their love affair ends. In spite of this great disappointment, Franziska does not leave the small town. She has realized that a year is far too short to bring about any fundamental changes for the people.

At the beginning of the 50s, two extremely disparate men meet in a private sanatorium for consumptives: an officer in the People’s Police, Josef Heiliger; and a young Protestant curate, Hubertus Koschenz. On account of their consumption, they have to share a room. Initially, this is the only thing they have in common.