1945年8月6日，美国人向日本广岛投下了原子弹。这样做使苏联承受着在核军备竞赛中赶上美国的压力。对此最重要的要求是：拥有铀矿石。
1947年，库尔特·梅内尔（Vinzenz Kiefer）从苏联被囚禁中返回家乡矿石山时，俄国人试图不惜一切代价在那开采铀矿石。库尔特的父亲（克里斯蒂安·雷德尔（Christian Redl））是其中一处矿山的高级登山者。他警告苏联军事当局地下湖，如果它们在错误的地方爆炸以寻找铀，可能会淹没竖井。
但是俄罗斯人可以信任库尔特的父亲吗？毕竟，他是纳粹的老将，他仍然相信德国人没有做错任何事情。他的儿子与众不同。他了解德国人的战争罪恶感-并想尝试在新的德国工作。他坚信，与苏联的友谊以及铀矿开采也将是实现这一目标的重要基石。但他从字面上与人民的友谊过分接受：他爱上了俄罗斯上校布尔斯基（HenryHübchen）的漂亮女儿（Nadja Bobyleva）。对他们俩来说，这是极大的爱。对于苏维埃当局而言，即使战争已经结束，也可能与敌人发生兄弟关系。
突然，矿井中发生了一场事故，恰好与库尔特父亲的预言相符...

THE TRIO relies mainly on presenting the viewer with the unexpected, or rather with the ordinary in an unexpected fashion. Zobel and his daughter Lizzie, connected with funfair and sideshow life, but essentially pickpockets by trade, live in a van with Zobel's ageing lover. He is finding his job as third man of the team too hard to deal with. A replacement is found in Rudolf, a young and attractive garage mechanic with a sideline in purse snatching, and the film charts the ups and downs of a whole series of relationships as both father and daughter vie for Rudolf's affections.
Family values are turned upside down, yet it is family values of the more ordinary kind which seem to triumph in the end, albeit linked to a decided lack of 'ordinary' social and moral values. There is no judgement in this story; it is presented merely as a series of unusual situations that unusual people, with normal emotions, find themselves in. Despite their lifestyle, their trade, and their seeming lack of social parameters, the characters are fairly likeable; Zobel (George) is a heartbroken middle aged man, looking for reassurance; Lizzie (Hain) is a gamine of the first order, and Rudolf (Eitner) is full of spirit.
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