Young Helene (Mala Emde) comes with her sister Martha (Liliane Amuat) to the exciting Berlin of the wild 20s. While Martha loses herself in a party and drug frenzy, Helene wants to study medicine and become a doctor. In Karl (Thomas Prenn) she finds the love of her life. The door to the world seems to be wide open for her. With Karl's untimely death and the social upheaval caused by the Nazis, she meets Wilhelm (Max von der Groeben) , who falls madly in love with her. But her vital energy and strong will do not mesh with Wilhelm's traditional role models and motherhood. Helene makes an outrageous decision.