Hannelore Telloke

Because her boyfriend had instigated her to steal cigarettes, Sabine is sent to a youth detention centre. At the age of 18, she is released and wants to start a new life. She rents her own room and starts to work in a shoe factory. Although she is strong willed, Sabine remains insecure, because she is still in love with Jimmy. At her new workplace, she has a tough act to follow because her colleagues are untrusting and refusing towards her.

Following a training course, the 28-year-old Helga Baumann, a single mother of two children, meets up with her husband Fred again. They had separated a while ago because their ideas of marriage were completely disparate: The conservative Fred advocated the woman′s role of wife and mother, while Helga dreamt about an emancipated partnership between two employed persons. Now, her sister has brought them back together. At first sight, Fred seems to have changed and, once again, Helga cannot resist his advances. But when she meets with difficulties during a fair in Tashkent, Fred yet again proves to be a petty bourgeois by assuring her that they would get along perfectly without her working.