In East Germany in 1984, the whole society was shrouded in the high-handed rule of the National Security Agency. Agent Waisman (Ulrich Muhe) was ordered to monitor the lives of playwright Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his girlfriend actress Christina (Martina Jettik). In the process of monitoring, Waisman gradually became interested in the family's life and began to secretly help them. An article in the West German newspaper Der Spiegel attracted the attention of secret service chiefs who believed it was written by Dreyman and arrested Christina in the hope of getting her husband's secret out of her mouth. And it was Waisman who interrogated Christina.