After a breakdown, Rita returns to her childhood village in 1961. As she recovers, she remembers the past two years: her love for the chemist Manfred, ten years her senior; how his enthusiasm about his new chemical process turned to bitter disappointment in the face of official rejection; how he escaped to West Berlin a few weeks before the Wall was built and hoped that she would follow him …
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
 Lissy TempelhofNarrator | Narrator |
| WWerner EberleinNarrator | Narrator |
 Renate BlumeRita Seidel | Rita Seidel |
 Eberhard EscheManfred Herrfurth | Manfred Herrfurth |
 Hans Hardt-HardtloffRolf Meternagel | Rolf Meternagel |
 Hilmar ThateWendland | Wendland |
 Martin FlörchingerHerr Herrfurth | Herr Herrfurth |
 Erika PelikowskyFrau Herrfurth | Frau Herrfurth |
 Günter GrabbertErnst Schwarzenbach | Ernst Schwarzenbach |
| AAgnes KrausFrau Meternagel | Frau Meternagel |
 Hilmar BaumannNot listed | Not listed |
 Paul BerndtMelcher | Melcher |
 Horst JonischkanMartin Jung | Martin Jung |
 Petra KellingSigrid | Sigrid |
 Horst WeinheimerErmisch | Ermisch |
 Hans-Joachim HanischKuhl | Kuhl |
| CChristoph EngelLiebentrau | Liebentrau |
 Uwe Detlef JessenMangold | Mangold |
 Erik VeldreSchwabe | Schwabe |
| OOtto LangProfessor | Professor |
| LLothar BellagDr. Seiffert | Dr. Seiffert |
| DDorothea VolkRitas Mutter | Ritas Mutter |
 Waltraut KrammFrau Schwarzenbach | Frau Schwarzenbach |
 Angela BrunnerNot listed | Not listed |
 Peter HerdenNot listed | Not listed |
| HHeinz HellmichDoctor | Doctor |
| FFredy BartenKneipenwirt | Kneipenwirt |