Adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novella for East German television, produced in 1965/66, not shown until 1972.

Kemmel, a sculptor with a troubled nature, wonders, as he approaches his fortieth birthday, whether he has created any truly significant work.

This film continues the story of radio operator Ludwig Bartuschek from “The Sailor’s Song”. Near the end of the Weimar Republic, Bartuschek (Erwin Geschonneck) is working as a mechanic in the Sperber airplane plant. Director Dehringer offers him the opportunity to train as an airplane constructor if he is willing to give up his communist beliefs under oath. Bartuschek will not allow himself to be bought and instead joins the underground resistance movement.

改编文学之作，这改编对象是因敢言而长期被监视的著名东德女作家Christa Wolf。故事设于1950年代末，女主角丽塔毕业在即被派往电车厂工作，了解劳动生活。在那里，她爱上了比她年长十年的化学家。可惜好恋不常，男朋友因事业失意决定投奔西柏林，令丽塔进退两难。禾斯夫用上前卫的意识流手法，以倒叙方式道出丽塔的经历，藉以对共产理念与实行提出大胆的批判，此片亦因此被誉为“第一部呈现东德觉醒的作品”。