Daniel Brenner is an East German architect in his late thirties. Despite a top university degree, his professional life revolves around bus shelters and telephone booths. Then he receives a commission to design a cultural center for a satellite town. Brenner accepts under the condition that he will be allowed to select his own team. Their plan to create a non-conventional design fails. His wife and their daughter leave the country for West Germany. Broken and disillusioned, Brenner collapses in front of the project's inauguration tribune.
With less than 6,000 tickets sold, the film received scant attention at the time of release. In retrospect it is considered a significant cineastic contribution to the country's time of transition.