Maria tells her former colleague, Hanna, that she has undergone a cancer operation but is now cured. Soon after, she suffers a relapse. The doctors believe that she should be told the truth about her condition, and Hanna is willing to do so. For Maria, it is the beginning of several long, agonizing weeks until she is ready to accept that she has only a very small amount of time left to live. In the meantime, Hanna has to decide how she can help her friend die; an almost unbearable decision, but once made she carries it out to the last consequence.

Polizeiruf 110 is a long-running German language detective television series. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic Republic, and after the dissolution of Fernsehen der DDR the series was picked up by ARD. It was originally created as a counterpart to the West German series Tatort, and quickly became a public favorite.