This biographical film is set in 1937, with Fallada suffering the effects of living under a microscope. The film details his decline, as he is intermittently imprisoned and threatened in order to motivate him to write for the Fatherland. Even the attention of his kind, patient wife and loving children begin to feel oppressive to him. This is one of the few films to take a serious, in-depth look at the tribulations of a creative artist pulled in all different directions by the real world.

A story about Ulrike, a ten year old girl who is looking for a new father with energy and determination.

The puppet boy Turli, who was only recently been carved from wood by the toymaker Kasimir, suddenly springs to life. Turli has nothing but nonsense on his mind and wreaks chaos everywhere he goes, although he is actually supposed to attend school.