When Stefan's father dies, the theater actor has to return to his hometown Bochum. But it is not easy to get rid of his parents' house, a monument of his life, when he meets Charlie with his old friends, acquaintances and his childhood sweetheart.

Julian is a 12-year-old boy whose family is just scraping by in the Ruhr industrial region of Germany in the early 1960s . When his mother and younger sister go away for a while, he is left mostly alone in the apartment while his father works in the coal mine. He has to confront the confusing world of adults and older boys and the older girl next door on his own. Finally events build up and threaten to tear the family apart.

Two brothers start a sportswear company in the 1920s, hoping to make the best shoes in the world. Their relationship deteriorates until they become bitter rivals.