Karl Achilles has worked at the Bitterfeld chemical combine for 30 years. Having helped build the plant since WWII ended in 1945, he will now retire at the age of 65. Achilles, however, intends to spend more time with his family and to cultivate his garden. But it is a difficult farewell for him knowing that he is no longer up to the new technical challenges and that his younger colleagues are outdoing him.BANQUET FOR ACHILLES was filmed on original location in Bitterfeld. Showing smoking chimneys of the plant and the destroyed landscape as central motifs, it became the first East German feature film to respond critically to environmental issues, which were officially taboo topics.