The film tells the story of the Eastern Germany Nelly Senff and her young son Alexej, who emigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany in the late 1970s, three years after Nelly's boyfriend Wassilij was killed in an auto accident. In the west, she wants to start a new life, but at first she and Alexej land at Marienfelde refugee transit camp in West Berlin. There, Allied intelligence agencies interrogate Nelly and demand information about her dead boyfriend, who is suspected to have been a spy...