When Isa (Nadja Uhl) provokes the Nazis at her exam party with a satirical song, she is denied her degree despite passing the exam. She has to give up her plan to become a teacher and, against the will of her mother Petra (Iris Berben), manages to perform in a political cabaret. As a singer with an accordion, she celebrates stage successes and falls in love with the pianist Laurenz (Hinnerk Schönemann).
Through her brother Erich (Max von Thun), Isa meets the fascinating Countess Elisabeth von Plettenberg (Peri Baumeister), who heads a Catholic circle. Both women are attracted to each other. When Isa learns that her father (Friedrich von Thun) is cheating on her mother, she is devastated. She is also unsettled by the fate of Laurenz, who was abducted by Nazis. In her search for a new direction in life, she turns to Catholicism.
During the Second World War, Isa’s family gets caught up in the wheels of political power and is torn apart. Isa survives and returns to Berlin…