The story is set in a suburb of Berlin, inside former East Germany, but close to the border to West Berlin. The time is the early 1950s. Young people, living their lives and working at a state-owned factory, their travails, joys and first love, face the delusions and propaganda of a regime that was hideous, while sometimes appearing comical at the same time. These were times when the Cold War started and when America was in the cross-hairs of the East German regime.