January 1st, 1950: in Cologne, Hamburg and San Remo, people ring in the new decade. The one before left deep scars in the cities and in people’s minds and hearts. Gerda and Heinrich Aldenhoven’s house in Cologne is bursting at the seams. Heinrich’s art gallery is not making enough money to feed all the hungry mouths. In contrast, Gerda’s friends Elisabeth and her husband Kurt in Hamburg don’t have money worries. As press officer of the savings bank, Kurt can provide a modest existence for his family. But they also yearn for a little more lightness in their lives. Their son-in-law Joachim still hasn’t returned from the war.

And Margarethe Aldenhoven has ended up in San Remo. Her life at her Italian husband’s side seems carefree, but she is tortured by her dependency on her mother-in-law. As differently as they all spent New Year’s Eve – out and about in Cologne, quietly at home in Hamburg, classily in San Remo – the questions on New Year’s Day are the same: will the wounds finally heal? What will the future bring?