Renée Kubsch

Susanne is a young single mother who lives a somewhat "carefree" lifestyle. After quitting her job, she finds herself in trouble financially and attempts a minor insurance fraud to make ends meet. Despite its rare view of everyday socialism from a woman's perspective, East German officials were critical of this frank portrayal of a less-than-ideal socialist citizen and turned down all invitations for the film to be screened abroad.

It's no big secret that twelve-year-old Hannes is in love with his classmate Carolin, who he compares to a beautiful white cloud in the sky. But when Carolin spends most of her time exploring the village's history with Benno, Hannes becomes increasingly jealous of his rival. The only person who is happy about this situation is Kerstin, who is in fact interested in Hannes. In order to impress Carolin, Hannes takes her and several others out for a boat ride in the nearby Bay of Greifswald, but his plan takes a deadly turn as a storm approaches.

At the textile company, everyone appreciates the work of 18-year-old Susanne, but nobody really considers her a woman—including Lutz, with whom she is in love. She sets about to make a change, but it is only when she realizes that she is being taken advantage of that a more self-confident Susanne emerges.