As the Nazi Party rises to prominence in early 20th-century Germany, two men exemplify the opposing sides of the struggle for power. Hans (Hansjörg Felmy), a journalist, is strongly opposed to the Nazi agenda and is fired from his job because he refuses to fall into line. Bruno (Robert Graf) is a brutish man who joins the Nazis in search of his own personal glory. After the party's collapse years later, the two men cross paths in the corporate world.
With the war over, Hans returns to Neustadt, having been a POW. He, Kirsten and their two children live in quite poor conditions while Bruno, who has changed his surname to "Anders", makes a comfortable living from his black market activities. The lot of the Boeckel family only improves when Siegfried Stein, now a member of the occupation forces, gets Hans a job at a newspaper in Munich.
Finally, in the period known as the Wirtschaftswunder, Bruno has risen to the rank of Generaldirektor (head of company) while Hans works as a journalist. When he writes a critical article, referencing Bruno's Nazi past, Bruno visits Boeckel's boss and threatens to organise an advertising boycott of the paper unless Hans retracts the story. Hans refuses and Bruno storms out. Finally abandoned by his luck, he falls into an empty elevator shaft.
At Bruno's funeral, the attending political and economic leaders are shown to have previously been involved with the Nazi party as well, and while they vow to "continue onwards in his spirit", the film closes with a zoom on the letters ENDE in the graveyard inscription, "Wir mahnen die LebENDEn" ("We admonish the living/the survivors").
This satirical movie is based on the novel "Wir Wunderkinder" by Hugo Hartung, first published in 1957. The black-and-white film is known in English as" Aren't We Wonderful?".
