1956: During a visit to the cinema in West Berlin, the high school graduates Theo (Leonard Scheicher) and Kurt (Tom Gramenz) see dramatic pictures of the Hungarian revolt in Budapest in the newsreel. Back in Stalinstadt, the idea of a minute of silence in class for the victims of the revolt arises spontaneously. But the gesture goes much further than expected: While their principal (Florian Lukas) first tries to dismiss the whole thing as a youthful mood, the pupils get into the political mills of the still young GDR. The Minister of Education (Burghart Klaußner) denounces the action as a clearly counterrevolutionary act and demands that the pupils appoint the ringleader within a week. But the students stick together and are confronted with a decision that will change their lives forever...
