During the Cold War, Ulrich and Heike Molitor's attempt to escape from the GDR with their children hidden in the car ends in a prison conviction and both kids going to adoption unless they accept to leave daughter Rebecca behind to that fate and choose 'exulsion' with son Klaus. When the kids near adulthood, Klaus is frustrated that his parents only wine about his lost sister. Meanwhile, the time is ripening for the Berlin wall to come down. Rebecca's adoptive pa resists his wife's nagging to leave the Stasi.

Karin, a well-known and loved midwife in her early forties, receives a high-order decoration from the state. While still overwhelmed with happiness about this honor, she is faced with a difficult decision when she encounters a young women who claims to be her daughter.