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Five friends go out to war and promise each other to be back for Christmas.

The war on the Russian front goes disastrously wrong, so Frieldhelm's realistic pessimism spreads among the decimated comrades in arms, who bravely continue the near-hopeless battle assignments in a last hope offensive on Kursk. Friedhelm survives by wearing a Soviet uniform, only to be shot by his own men, yet is saved against the odds when nurse Charlotte begs the surgeon, who becomes her lover. At home, his father proves heartless, caring only for the presumed dead in action of firstborn hero Wilhelm, who actually deserted to live in a wood cabin but is found and condemned to the firing squad. Viktor is caught, sent to a concentration camp but escapes with a Polish girl. They are nearly denounced but brought to the partisans, who mistrust the odd couple. Greta visits the front, sees the horror in Charlotte's field hospital and is arrested for publicly questioning the Nazi victory. Her lover learns about his child while questioning her.

Wilhelm's death sentence has been mitigated to a transfer into a punitive battalion. The Wehrmacht now needs every man. In Russia, Charlotte and Wilhelm meet again - a disturbing encounter for both. Especially Charlotte is overwhelmed by her feelings, since she thought Wilhelm dead. But the war tears them asunder once more. The Red Army is now advancing on all fronts. While Friedhelm's new unit in Poland is still cracking down brutally on the partisan group Viktor is a member of, Charlotte's field hopital is overrun by the Russians. Charlotte is captured by the Russians. Greta is visited in prison by her former lover and protector Dorn. Like so many others, he sees the end of the NS-regime approaching and tries to save his own neck. He wants Greta to testify that he had helped her boyfriend Viktor to escape from Germany: Her life in exchange for her signature. Wilhelm uses the chaos of retreat and defects from his punitive battalion. He makes his difficult and dangerous way back to Berlin. The war is on its last legs, but still thousands are dying each day. Friedhelm, too, is sent towards the advancing Red Army with a contigent in the last days of the war. Four years previously, the five friends had wanted to meet in Berlin at Christmas. Four Christmasses have since passed, without a reunion. A country lies in ruins. Millions of people on all sides have died a meaningless death. Those five, too, haven't weathered the war without losses, and those who survived will never be the same again.