Passengers on a train from Munich to East Berlin learn on the way that the GDR has just been closed off by the new Berlin Wall. They have 3 1/2 hours to decide whether to take the train all the way to East Berlin or to remain in the FRG.

The film follows the difficult decisions facing passengers, most returning home, on a train from Munich to East Berlin on the day when East Germany closed itself off from the West. When they hear about the closure on the way, they have 3 1/2 hours to decide whether to stay on the train all the way to East Berlin or detrain in the West. Among them are a young pop group, successful in the East but returning from a disappointing engagement in the West; an old couple who may never see their son again; a young family whose father dreams of a career in the West as an aviation engineer, while the mother wants to return to her father, a senior officer in the East German army; and a young gymnastics champion and her trainer.—rsbrux