why am i aggressive as a mother? why am i unhappy with a man i love? why is the man unhappy too? and why does his unhappiness seem more bearable to me than mine? - helke sander, february 1968

A movie about little Marianne's life in a little German village 1943-1950. The peace comes in the shape of an American soldier who brings chewing gum to all the children, a soldier they call Mr. Frieden. Marianne's head is filled with fear of war and belief that the war will come back.

Edda Chiemnyjewski, a freelance press photographer and single mother living in 1970s West Berlin, is confronted with the fact that "a cook has no time for affairs of state". She also fails to find a market for the project she has been working on with her women′s photography group that seeks to document the city. While from today′s perspective the city, which becomes one of the film′s protagonists, looks like post-war Berlin, little has actually changed as regards the precarious existence of free-lancers. With a heavy dose of self-irony Helke Sander, who also plays the leading role, tells of a divided life in a divided city.

West Berlin, 1974. The revolution didn't happen like it was supposed. Grischa, a 30-year-old actress dissatisfied with standard left-wing politics, interviews working women to find out how they deal with being both mothers and members of society.