A novelty in German post-war history: a young woman (Eva Rimski) becomes mayor in a village. She is efficient and enjoys respect, but soon enough two villagers disagree with her work. In her predecessor, a prominent farmer (Arno Paulsen), she has a bitter enemy. But even her boyhood friend (Reinhard Kolldehoff), who wants to marry her as he returns home from captivity, can not accept that his future wife holds such an office.

The girl Marianne inherited a motorboat called “Eintracht” from her parents and struggled to get her to drive it with her uncle. There is a row with the new engineer Michel the evening after the first trip. He leaves - out of jealousy. Instead of him, Marianne takes three funny musicians with her who are looking for work. The trip to Hamburg on the Elbe initially ends on a sandbank, from which another barge, the "Petrel", frees them. Michel has now been hired there. After a few complications and pointless fights, because Marianne has long been in love with Michel, there is the well-deserved happy ending.

The story of Johann Friedrich Böttger, an apothecary’s apprentice and alchemist’s assistant. Fleeing from the Prussian King, he goes to Saxony, where King Frederick August the Strong takes him to a fortress and demands that he create gold. Böttger is equipped with everything he would need for the task, but he has known for a while that actual gold production is a myth and instead experiments with porcelain—white porcelain, as the Chinese are said to possess. In 1709, he finally succeeds in surprising the King with the "white gold," the first white porcelain made in Europe, he hopes for freedom.

During the global economic crisis, the mine pit "Morgenrot" is due to be closed due to unprofitable results. With the use of a machine forbidden for security reasons, the mates try to work more effectively and thus save their jobs. A serious accident happens.

After her husband dies, a German woman who gave up her infant for adoption to emigrate to America returns to Germany, discovering that her child is being raised by a married orchestra conductor.

In 1807 Prussia, Napoleon supporter Baron von Schranden forces his maid Regine to lead the French enemy across “Cat’s Bridge”, up behind a corps of Prussian volunteers who the French then decimate. In retaliation for this betrayal, the people of Schranden set the lord’s castle on fire. When the baron’s son Boleslav returns to the village a Prussian war hero in 1813, he is faced with a self-righteous village community that has denied his late father a decent burial. Regine is Boleslav’s only ally, and Boleslav is Regine’s only ally. The conflict escalates, and the villagers set up an ambush for him at Cat’s Bridge …