Middle-aged Hanna Flanders lives in a posh Munich apartment and hangs on to the faded fame she earned as a left-wing writer many years ago. Abuse of prescription drugs, make-up and flamboyant wigs can no longer cover up the pains of the eccentric woman′s lonely life. Hanna is shattered by the fall of the Berlin Wall. She hastily moves to Berlin. Both her estranged son and a former lover soon reject her attempts at reconciliation. A drunk at a bar later accosts Hanna. At an all-night sausage stand, Hanna meets Carmen, a witness to the writer′s bar fiasco. The kind young woman offers Hanna lodging. Hanna sees the realities of contemporary East German life for the first time. She begins to realize that these people are genuinely happy to have left their old government behind. Hanna feels that she is unable to tolerate the joyous atmosphere of a reunited Berlin, and frantically heads back for Munich.