America comes to Brighton as three beatniks hang out, listen to records and smoke before strange hats appear out of nowhere and a cartoon bubble suggests they go to the cinema.
The young generation is not very at peace with the morality of their parents. In a story set in a Moravian village, the otherwise contented cooperators indulge in stealing from the common property without seeing anything wrong with such actions.
After years of drifting around, Willi Palko arrives in the lignite mining area. He was not only looking for a new job, but also wanted to finally settle down here.
Munich cab driver Herbert Sponer picks up American businessman Jack Mortimer at the train station. Suddenly Mortimer is shot while driving and Sponer has to try to avoid being suspected as the perpetrator.
March, 1945: The insecure and hesitant reserve lieutenant Felix Bleck receives orders to lead a transport of 40 prisoners to the Western Front, where the men are to be burned up in a punishment battalion.