Filmed as the GDR crumbled, this somber, finely drawn portrait of life in East Berlin depicts a young architect whose life and goals are strangled by communist dogma represented by the older generation. One of the first fiction films to deal with both the GDR and unification period. Daniel feels like a stranger in his own land. His architectural plans for a new development have been rejected for not complying with standardized designs. His colleagues increasingly leave Daniel to himself. Even Daniel's wife, Wanda, is despondent; like so many others, she wants to move to the West and take their daughter. Daniel is left to wonder what happened to his country and its people. A bitter cinema drama.