Comedian Alvy Singer is trying to understand why his relationship with Annie Hall ended a year earlier. Growing up in Brooklyn, he vexed his mother with impossible questions about the emptiness of existence, and was precocious about his innocent sexual curiosity, suddenly kissing a classmate at six years old and not understanding why she was not keen to reciprocate. Annie and Alvy, waiting in a movie theater line to see The Sorrow and the Pity, overhear another man deriding the work of Federico Fellini and referencing Marshall McLuhan. Alvy imagines McLuhan himself stepping in at his invitation to criticize the man's comprehension of his work. That night, Annie shows no interest in sex with Alvy. Instead, they discuss his first wife, whom he devalued because of her interest in him. His second marriage was to a New York writer who did not share his enthusiasm for sports and was unable to reach orgasm. With Annie, it is different. The two of them have fun cooking a meal of boiled lobster together. He teases her about the unusual men in her past. They had met playing tennis doubles with friends. Following the game, awkward small talk leads her to offer him a ride uptown, and then a glass of wine on her balcony. There, what seemed a mild exchange of trivial personal data is revealed in "mental subtitles" as an escalating flirtation. Their first date follows Annie's singing audition for a nightclub (" It Had to Be You "). After having sex that night, Alvy is "a wreck", while Annie relaxes with a joint. Soon, Annie admits she loves Alvy, while he buys her books on death and says that his feelings for her are more than just love. When Annie moves in with him, things become very tense. Eventually, Alvy finds Annie arm-in-arm with one of her adult-education professors, and the two begin arguing over whether this is the "flexibility" they had discussed. They eventually break up, and he searches for the truth of relationships, asking strangers on the street about the nature of love, questioning his formative years, and imagining a cartoon version of himself arguing with a cartoon Annie portrayed as the Evil Queen in Snow White. Alvy attempts a return to dating, but the effort is marred by neurosis and an underwhelming sexual encounter that is interrupted when Annie calls in the middle of the night, urging him to come over immediately to kill a spider in her bathroom. A reconciliation follows, coupled with a vow to stay together, come what may. However, their separate discussions with their therapists make it evident that there is an unspoken and unbridgeable divide. When Alvy accepts an offer to present an award on television, they travel to Los Angeles with Alvy's friend Rob. However, on the return trip, they agree that their relationship is not working. After losing Annie to her record producer, Tony Lacey, Alvy unsuccessfully tries to rekindle the flame with a marriage proposal. Back in New York, he stages a play of their relationship, but he changes the ending: now she accepts. The last meeting between Annie and Alvy takes place on Manhattan 's Upper West Side after they have both moved on to someone new. Alvy concludes that, although relationships are irrational, crazy, and absurd, people still need them.

Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is a young housewife seeking the attention of her husband, Rajeev (Nakul Vaid), and searching for ways to bring the romance back into her marriage; one of her ideas is to cook delicious lunches for him. Through a rare mix-up of the dabbawalas (a complicated food delivery system in Mumbai that picks up and delivers lunches from restaurants or homes to people at work), the tiffin carrier (lunchbox) Ila prepares for her husband gets accidentally delivered instead, to Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan), a middle-aged widower who is about to retire from his job of an accountant. Ila eventually realises the mistake and with the advice of her neighbour aunt, Mrs. Deshpande (Bharti Achrekar - voice only), living in the apartment above her, writes a letter to Saajan about the mix-up and places it in the lunchbox (along with her husband's favourite meal) the next day. An exchange of letters sent back and forth with the lunches ignites a friendship between the two, as they share memories and events from their own lives. At work, Saajan is tasked with training his replacement, Aslam Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Socially distant after his wife's death, Saajan is initially reluctant to interact with Shaikh and train him. After Shaikh reveals that he is an orphan who taught himself accounting, Saajan gradually warms up to him, and eventually the duo strike a close friendship. At one point, Saajan saves Shaikh's job by covering for his blatant mistakes and becomes the best man at his marriage with Mehrunissa (Shruti Bapna). Meanwhile, Ila discovers that Rajeev is having an extramarital affair and gives up hope of rekindling her marriage. In one of the lunchbox letters, she suggests moving to Bhutan where the cost of living is much cheaper than India. Saajan writes back with the suggestion that the two move there together. Ila then offers to meet in person at a popular restaurant but at the appointed time, Saajan does not show up. Upon receiving an empty lunchbox in disappointment the next day, Saajan writes back to the dejected Ila and apologises to her, stating that he did arrive and watched her from a distance, but could not approach her. He explains how young and beautiful she looked, while surmising that he is too old for her and advising her to move on. Some time later, Ila's father, battling lung cancer, dies in the care of her mother (Lillete Dubey), who confesses how unhappy her marriage was. She gives Ila the advice "Sometimes, the wrong train takes us to the right station". Ila receives the address of Saajan's office from the dabbawalas only to learn from Shaikh that he has already retired and headed to Nashik. She writes a farewell message to Saajan announcing that she has decided to leave Rajeev and move to Bhutan with her young daughter, Yashvi. Meanwhile, Saajan changes his mind en route to Nashik and returns to Mumbai. The film ends with Ila waiting for Yashvi to return from school and Saajan heading to her house with the dabbawalas who regularly picked up and delivered the eponymous lunchbox.

Professor Rafał Wilczur (Jerzy Bińczycki) was a successful surgeon in Poland in the early 20th century, whose wife leaves him with their small daughter for another man. Wilczur meets a man named Samuel who asks Wilczur to help him financially. The two men go to a bar and get drunk. Wilczur gets robbed and beaten up and loses his memory after hitting his head. Suffering from amnesia, he ends up in a small village, working as a farm laborer for years and is known there as Kosiba. He eventually starts healing the other villagers, and performs surgery on an injured young woman Maria (Anna Dymna). The existing doctor in the area (Andrzej Kopiczyński) sues Wilczur for using the doctor's surgical instruments. In court for this case, he is recognized as the missing famous surgeon by an expert witness Dobraniecki in the case (Piotr Fronczewski), and he then begins to regain his memory. He then realizes that the young woman he saved is his daughter, and the two are reunited. He is told that his former wife died of tuberculosis shortly after leaving him, and the daughter ended up in an orphanage. Maria then marries Leszek (Tomasz Stockinger), the son of a local nobleman.

Walter Burns, a hard-boiled newspaper editor, learns that his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildy Johnson, is about to marry insurance man Bruce Baldwin and settle down as a housewife in Albany. Walter, determined to sabotage these plans, asks a reluctant Hildy to cover one last story: the pending execution of Earl Williams, who has been convicted of murdering a black policeman. Walter maintains that Williams is innocent and that the city fathers are only going through with the execution so as to curry favor with black voters. Hildy accepts the assignment on the condition that Walter buy a life insurance policy from Bruce. While Hildy works on the story, Walter does everything he can to keep Bruce from taking her to Albany, including framing him for theft (forcing Hildy to bail him out of jail). Exasperated, Hildy quits, but when Williams escapes, her journalistic instincts get the better of her. Walter frames Bruce again, and he is immediately sent back to jail. Williams suddenly appears at the window of the press room where Hildy is working. She hides him in a rolltop desk. Meanwhile, a messenger from the governor arrives at the mayor's office with a reprieve for Williams. The mayor, who is determined to see Williams hanged, bribes the messenger to keep the reprieve under his hat until it is too late. Mrs. Baldwin, Hildy's future mother-in-law, enters the press room, having eluded a kidnapper sent by Walter. She reveals to the assembled crowd (which includes the mayor) that Hildy is keeping Williams in the desk. Williams is taken back to his cell and Walter and Hildy are arrested for abetting his escape. At this point, the messenger returns with the reprieve, telling the mayor that he has decided not to take the bribe after all. Walter uses this information to blackmail the mayor into letting them go. Walter tells Hildy that she is free to go to Albany with Bruce. Hildy is put out by this, realizing that she still loves Walter and is not ready to give up her career as a journalist. Bruce then calls to say he has been arrested again, this time for carrying counterfeit money (that Walter gave him). Hildy is relieved to learn that Walter never had any intention of letting her go quietly. Walter proposes to Hildy for the second time and promises to take her on the honeymoon they never had in Niagara Falls. He then learns that there is a strike in Albany, which is on the way to Niagara Falls. Hildy agrees to honeymoon in Albany, accepting that Walter will never change.

In 1958 postwar Britain, Stevens, the butler of Darlington Hall, receives a letter from the former housekeeper, Miss Kenton, now Mrs. Benn. Their past employer, the Earl of Darlington, has died a broken man, his reputation destroyed by his pre–Second World War support of Nazi Germany, and his stately country house has been sold to retired US Congressman Jack Lewis. Allowed to borrow the Daimler, Stevens sets off for the West Country to see Miss Kenton for the first time in decades. In the 1930s, Kenton arrives at Darlington Hall, where the ever-efficient but deeply repressed Stevens derives his entire identity from his profession. He butts heads with the warmer, strong-willed Kenton, particularly when he refuses to acknowledge that his father, now an under-butler, is no longer able to perform his duties. Displaying total professionalism, Stevens carries on as his father lies dying during Darlington's conference of like-minded fascist -sympathising British and European aristocrats. Also in attendance is U.S. Congressman Lewis, who admonishes the "gentleman politicians" as meddling amateurs, advising that "Europe has become the arena of Realpolitik " and warning of impending disaster. Exposed to Nazi racial laws, Darlington gets Stevens to dismiss two newly hired refugee German-Jewish maids. Kenton threatens to resign but has nowhere to go, and a regretful Darlington is later unable to rehire the maids. At another conference, Stevens is unable to answer an aristocratic guest's questions on global trade and politics, which the aristocrat claims demonstrates the lower classes' ignorance and inability to govern themselves. Relations thaw between Stevens and Kenton, and she clearly shows her feelings for him. But the outwardly detached Stevens remains dedicated solely to his role as butler. She catches him reading a romance novel, which he explains is to improve his vocabulary, asking her not to invade his privacy again. Lord Darlington's godson, journalist Reginald Cardinal, arrives on the day of a secret meeting at Darlington Hall between the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and the German ambassador, Joachim von Ribbentrop. Appalled by his godfather's role in seeking appeasement for Nazi Germany, Cardinal tells Stevens that Darlington is being used by the Nazis, but Stevens feels it is not his place to judge his employer. Kenton forms a relationship with former co-worker Tom Benn and accepts his proposal of marriage. She informs Stevens as an ultimatum, but he will not admit his feelings and only offers his congratulations. Finding her crying, his only response is to call her attention to a neglected domestic task, and she leaves Darlington Hall before the start of the Second World War. En route to meeting Kenton in 1958, Stevens is mistaken for a gentleman at a pub. Doctor Carlisle, a local GP, helps him refuel the Daimler, deduces that he is actually a manservant, and asks his thoughts about Lord Darlington's actions. Initially denying having even met him, Stevens later admits to having served and respected him, noting that Darlington later confessed that his Nazi sympathies had been misguided and naive. Stevens tells Carlisle that, although Lord Darlington was unable to correct his error, he is attempting to correct his own. Stevens meets Kenton, who has separated from her husband and is staying at a boarding house on the coast. She and Stevens discuss how Lord Darlington died from a broken heart after suing a newspaper for libel, losing the suit and his reputation. Stevens mentions that Cardinal was killed in the war. Kenton declines to resume her position at Darlington Hall, wishing to remain near her pregnant daughter and, despite years of unhappiness, thinking about going back to her husband. Stevens supposes they may never meet again, and they part fondly but are both quietly upset, with Kenton visibly tearful as her bus pulls away. Stevens returns to Darlington Hall, where Lewis asks if he remembers what he had said at the conference in the 30s. Stevens replies that he was too busy serving to listen to the speeches. A pigeon flies into the fireplace from the chimney, and Lewis catches and sets it free. Stevens watches the bird as it flies away, leaving Darlington Hall far behind.

In 1963, Stephen Hawking, a postgraduate astrophysics student at the University of Cambridge, begins a relationship with literature student Jane Wilde. Although Stephen is intelligent, both his friends and fellow academics are worried about his lack of a thesis topic. After attending a lecture by Roger Penrose on black holes with his advisor, Prof. Dennis Sciama, Stephen speculates that these might have been part of the universe's creation and decides on his thesis. However, soon Stephen's muscles begin to fail, causing him to lose coordination. After a bad fall, he is diagnosed with early-onset progressive degenerative motor neurone disease (MND) that will eventually leave him unable to move, swallow, or even breathe. With no treatment options, he is given approximately two years to live. The doctor assures Stephen that his brain will not be affected, so his thoughts and intelligence will remain intact, but eventually, he will be unable to communicate with them. Stephen develops severe depression, becoming reclusive and focusing on his work. Jane confesses she loves him and that she intends to stay, even as his condition worsens. They marry and have their first son, Robert. Once his walking ability deteriorates, he begins using a wheelchair. Inspired by Penrose's work on spacetime singularities at the centre of black holes, Stephen presents his doctoral thesis viva, extrapolating that a black hole created the universe in a Big Bang and it will end in a Big Crunch. After the Hawkings have their daughter Lucy, Jane becomes frustrated having to focus on the children, as well as Stephen's slowly degenerating health while his fame increases, all at the expense of her academic work. Stephen tells her he will understand if she needs help. In the 1970s, Jane joins a church choir, where she meets and becomes close friends with Jonathan, a widower. She employs him as Robert's piano teacher, and Jonathan befriends the entire family, helping Stephen with his illness, supporting Jane, and playing with the children. When Jane gives birth to another son, Timothy, Stephen's mother asks her if the baby is Jonathan's. This causes outrage and Jonathan is appalled, but when he and Jane are alone, they admit the depth of their feelings for one another. He distances himself from the family, but Stephen tells him that Jane needs him. As the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Stephen goes on to develop a theory of the visibility of black holes that emit radiation, becoming a world-renowned physicist. In the 1980s, while on holiday in Bordeaux, Stephen falls ill and is rushed to a hospital. The doctor informs Jane that he has pneumonia and the tracheotomy he needs to survive will leave him mute. She agrees to the surgery. Stephen learns to use a spelling board and uses it to communicate with his new nurse, Elaine Mason. He receives a computer with a built-in voice synthesizer and uses it to write a book, A Brief History of Time, which becomes an international best-seller. In the late 1980s, Stephen tells Jane he has been invited to the United States to accept an award and will take Elaine with him. Jane faces the fact that the marriage has not been working, saying she "did her best", and they agree to divorce. While Stephen has fallen in love with Elaine, Jane and Jonathan reunite. Stephen goes to deliver a public lecture where he sees a student drop a pen. He imagines getting up to return it, almost crying at the reminder of how his disease has affected him. He then gives a speech telling audiences to pursue their ambitions despite the harsh reality of life: "While there is life, there is hope." On being made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1989, Stephen invites Jane to go with him to meet Queen Elizabeth II, where they share a happy day together with their three children. An extended closing series of select moments from the film, shown in reverse, back to the moment Stephen first saw Jane – the reversal is reminiscent of Stephen's research methodology of reversing time to understand the beginning of the universe. An epilogue reveals that A Brief History of Time has sold over ten million copies worldwide; Stephen declined an offer of a knighthood and has no plans to retire; Jane earned her PhD in medieval Spanish poetry and married Jonathan; and both Stephen and Jane remain friends, sharing three grandchildren.

As a child during Nazi-era Germany, Kurt Barnert (inspired by Gerhard Richter) visits an exhibit of Degenerate Art in Dresden with his beautiful young aunt Elisabeth. While there, he is mesmerized by Girl with Blue Hair, a modernist sculpture by Eugen Hoffmann. At a Nazi Party rally, Elisabeth – a member of the National Socialist Women's League – is given the honour of personally presenting a bouquet of flowers to Adolf Hitler. Later that day at home, Kurt walks in on a nude Elisabeth playing Bach's music on the piano. She tells a startled Kurt to "never look away" because "everything that is true holds beauty in it." Elisabeth then begins hitting a single piano note repeatedly, rambling euphorically that she is "playing a concert for the Führer", and then begins deliriously hitting herself on the head with a broken ashtray. Elisabeth is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and is sterilized and later murdered under the Nazi euthanasia program. The doctor who orders her sterilization and death is gynecologist Professor Carl Seeband, a high-ranking member of the SS medical corps. After the war, Seeband is arrested by the Soviets and placed in a prison camp, facing likely execution. While there, he volunteers to assist a Red Army officer's wife during a complicated birth and saves the lives of both wife and child. The grateful Soviet officer releases Seeband and thereafter helps to keep evidence of his Nazi past from catching up with him. As an adult, Kurt studies painting at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he falls in love with a young fashion design student named Elisabeth (like his aunt), whom he calls Ellie. She is the daughter of Professor Seeband, though none of them are aware of their shared history and connection. Kurt excels in his studies, but is forced to complete paintings that reflect socialist realism, an ideology and school of art with which he does not identify. Eventually, he meets Ellie's father, who is now toeing the East German socialist party line. Seeband sees Kurt as genetically inferior to, and therefore unsuitable for, his daughter, and goes to great lengths to sabotage the young couple's relationship, even performing an abortion on Elisabeth based on a made-up health concern when she becomes pregnant with Kurt's child. However, the young couple's love strengthens and eventually the two get married. Fearing prosecution after the Soviet officer who had been protecting him is transferred to Moscow, Seeband flees East Germany for West Germany. Kurt and Ellie flee to West Germany themselves several years later. Since Kurt is already 30 years old, he lies about his age to be admitted to the famous Düsseldorf Art Academy, where he is able to study and practice art more freely than he could in East Germany. His teacher, Professor Antonius van Verten (based on Joseph Beuys) recognizes Kurt's deep personal experience, but also sees that he is struggling to find his own voice, having been trained only in figurative painting, a medium considered outdated and bourgeois by the standards of the school. Kurt shares adjoining studio space with fellow student and confidant Harry Preusser (inspired by Günther Uecker), who experiments with hammering nails into boards to produce large artworks. Only when Kurt finds a newspaper article about a captured Nazi doctor who was Seeband's superior does he have his artistic breakthrough. He starts using his figurative painting skills to copy black-and-white photographs onto canvases, adding a mysterious sfumato blur. Among the sources for the new paintings are Seeband's passport photographs and photographs of Kurt with Aunt Elisabeth from his own family album. When Seeband sees a painting that is a collage of himself, the captured Nazi doctor, and Kurt with Elisabeth, he abruptly leaves the studio. It is unclear if he is simply overwhelmed at being reminded of his past, just realized Elisabeth was Kurt's relative, or believes his son-in-law has uncovered his secret, but Kurt, for his part, still seems to be unaware of the connection. After years of infertility due to the abortion, Ellie becomes pregnant, and Kurt celebrates the moment she told him by painting her nude. Some time later, he gets his first art show, where his art impresses the critics, even though they completely misunderstand and misinterpret it. He rejoices in finally finding his voice and his place in the world.

American dancer Jerry Travers comes to London to star in a show produced by the bumbling Horace Hardwick. While practicing a tap dance routine in his hotel bedroom, he awakens Dale Tremont on the floor below. She storms upstairs to complain, whereupon Jerry falls hopelessly in love with her and proceeds to pursue her all over London. Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace, who is married to her friend Madge. Following the success of Jerry's opening night in London, Jerry follows Dale to Venice, where she is visiting Madge and modelling/promoting the gowns created by Alberto Beddini, a dandified Italian fashion designer with a penchant for malapropisms. Jerry proposes to Dale, who, while still believing that Jerry is Horace, is disgusted that her friend's husband could behave in such a manner and agrees instead to marry Alberto. Fortunately, Bates, Horace's meddling English valet, disguises himself as a priest and conducts the ceremony; Horace had sent Bates to keep tabs on Dale. On a trip in a gondola, Jerry manages to convince Dale and they return to the hotel where the previous confusion is rapidly cleared up. The reconciled couple dance off into the Venetian sunset, to the tune of "The Piccolino".

After eight months' treatment in a mental health facility for bipolar disorder, Patrizio "Pat" Solitano Jr. is released into the care of his parents, Patrizio Sr. and Dolores, at his childhood home in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. His primary focus is to reconcile with his ex-wife, Nikki. She has moved away and obtained a restraining order against him after he found her in the shower with another man and badly beat him. Pat's therapist, Cliff Patel, tries to convince him to keep taking his medication because a repeat of his violent outbursts might send him back to the clinic. Pat tells him that he has a new outlook on life: He attempts to see the good, or silver lining, in all that he experiences. Meanwhile, Pat experiences a series of anxiety attacks. Pat attends dinner at his best friend Ronnie's house, where Ronnie's sister-in-law, Tiffany Maxwell, a widow with an unnamed disorder, is also a guest. They connect, talking about different psychiatric medications they have taken to manage their mental illnesses. She tries to offer him casual sex, but Pat is focused on getting Nikki back. Trying to get closer to him, Tiffany offers to deliver a letter to Nikki if, in return, he partners with her in an upcoming dance competition. Convinced that helping Tiffany will show Nikki he has changed and has developed sensitivity to others, Pat agrees. Pat and Tiffany start practicing over the following weeks. Hoping to open a restaurant, Patrizio Sr. has resorted to illegal bookmaking. Having bet most of his money on a Philadelphia Eagles game, Patrizio asks Pat to attend for good luck, irrationally believing Pat's attention to the game affects its outcome. Pat points out this is OCD ideation but appeases his father. Pat asks Tiffany for time off from practice to attend the game. She gives him a typed reply from Nikki, which cautiously hints they may be able to reconcile. Before entering the stadium, Pat and his brother Jake get into a fight with racist fans and are arrested. The Eagles lose the game, and Patrizio is furious. When Patrizio claims that the Eagles lost because of Tiffany's newfound involvement in Pat's life, she refutes his allegations by pointing out that Philadelphia sports teams had done better whenever she and Pat were together. Convinced, Patrizio makes a parlay with his friend Randy: If the Eagles win their week 16 game against the Dallas Cowboys and Tiffany and Pat score five out of ten in their dance competition, he will win back double the money he lost on the first bet. Pat is reluctant, but Tiffany, Dolores, and Patrizio conspire to persuade him to dance in the competition, telling him Nikki will be there. Noticing that the letter from Nikki includes the phrase "If it's me reading the signs...", frequently used by Tiffany, he realizes that Tiffany fabricated the letter. Tiffany, Pat, and their friends and family arrive at the competition on the night of the football game. Tiffany despairs when she sees Nikki in the audience, invited by Ronnie and his wife Veronica. They want Nikki to lift her restraining order on Pat, giving them the chance to reconcile. Tiffany starts to drink heavily at the bar. Pat finds Tiffany moments before their turn and drags her onto the dance floor. They begin their routine as the Eagles defeat the Cowboys. After their set, Tiffany and Pat receive an average score of exactly 5.0 points amid cheers from friends and family and confused looks from the crowd. Pat approaches Nikki and whispers into her ear. Seeing this, Tiffany runs off. Pat Sr. tells his son that unlike Nikki, Tiffany really loves him, and he should not let her go, as it would haunt him for the rest of his life. Pat catches Tiffany and hands her a letter in which he admits to knowing she forged the letter earlier. He confesses that he loved her from the moment they became acquainted, but that it took him a long time to realize and accept it. They share a kiss. Patrizio opens a restaurant with the money he has won, and Pat and Tiffany begin a relationship, no longer wearing their wedding rings.

Witek (Bogusław Linda), sitting on an airplane, for some reason screams "No!". A bleeding person is dragged across a hospital floor. As a child, Witek learns how to write. As an adolescent, Witek dates Czuszka. As an adult, Witek goes to medical school and dates Olga (Monika Gozdzik). Witek 'loses' his calling after the death of his father. Witek decides to catch a train to Warsaw. There he crashes into a fellow drinking beer. Three different outcomes are shown, each depending on how Witek deals with the obstacles on his way to catching the train and whether or not he catches the train. In the first scenario, Witek almost crashes into the fellow drinking the beer. He runs after the train at the Łódź Fabryczna railway station and is able to grab onto the last car's handlebar just in time to pull himself aboard. On the train he meets Werner (Tadeusz Łomnicki), an old Communist. Witek decides to join the Communist Party. On a walk with Werner, Witek meets up with Czuszka (Bogusława Pawelec), his first love. The two meet up and have sex, after which a disappointed Czuszka discovers that Witek is applying to join the party. Witek unsuccessfully tries to solve a problem with an airline mechanic. Witek breaks up a sit-in at a hospital. As a reward, a party leader plans to send Witek on a special mission to France. On a walk with Czuszka, a policeman asks them for their papers. Since Witek is a Communist, he is allowed to go on his way, while Czuszka is detained. He attempts to make up with Czuszka, who is speaking at an opposition meeting, but she rejects him. At the airport, Witek is informed that his mission to France has been cancelled. In the second scenario, Witek slams into the fellow drinking the beer with such force that the mug slips from the drinker's hand and falls to the floor, breaking and spilling. Witek doesn't stop to apologize but still fails to catch the train. Instead he runs headlong into a railway guard on the platform, knocks him to the ground, and runs off. The guard calls for backup and Witek is arrested. A judge sentences Witek to thirty days and unpaid community service. Witek joins the anti-Communist resistance and meets up with Daniel, a friend from his childhood, and his sister Wera. He is baptised and the figure of Christ on the cross becomes a significant emblem for him. Witek applies for a passport to go to France, but his request is denied because he is known to be an anti-Communist. The authorities offer him a passport on the condition that he discloses the underground's contacts in France. Witek goes home and begins foreplay with Wera, but is called away to the resistance's lair. The place has been ransacked and the one person left there doubts Witek's loyalty. In the third scenario, Witek almost crashes into the fellow drinking the beer but stops in time and goes around him, apologizing. He still tries to catch the train but fails. The railway guard shows up a few seconds later but now Witek has stopped to catch his breath. He notices Olga on the platform (it's not clear if she was there in the previous two scenarios). Witek and Olga go back to his apartment where they make love on the floor. Witek decides to resume his medical studies and soon he graduates and starts practicing at the hospital as well as teaching at the medical school. Olga tells him she is three months pregnant. The two get married. Witek refuses to join the Communist Party. At the medical school, some students pass around a petition on behalf of the dean's son, who is accused of hawking illegal literature. Witek refuses to sign the petition, noting that the dean himself hasn't signed either. Witek doesn't want to get involved in politics at all. The dean offers him a trip to Libya to give some lectures on medical topics he has prepared. Witek accepts. On the train to catch the plane, Olga tells Witek she's pregnant with their second child, hoping it is a girl. At the airport, Witek sees some of the people who were more important in the previous two scenarios. The plane (which connects via France) taxis on the runway, Witek is comfortable in his seat. The plane takes off, but a few seconds later explodes.

Ratna is an on premise maid employed by Ashwin and his girlfriend, Sabina. Ashwin has recently returned to Mumbai from New York, leaving behind his dream to be a writer, after learning his brother is not well. He stays back to support his family emotionally when his brother dies.Ratna is an independent person with self-respect. However, as a widow from a small village her prospects are extremely limited. She is working in Mumbai to be self-sufficient and also financially helps her family, and encourages her sister to study. It was her dream to study which she could not fulfill because of marriage and now she wants her sister to get educated. She also nurtures a dream to become a fashion designer. The movie opens with Ratna being called back for work as Ashwin has left his to-be wife, Sabina on their wedding day and has come back home. From the conversations with his friends and family we learn that Sabina had cheated on him and he wasn't really in love with her. He stays low spirited for days until Ratna, not able to see him unhappy, narrates her story of losing her husband after just 4 months when she was 19 years old but now she is an independent woman who is supporting her family. She says "life never stops", implying we should move on with our life whatever may come. She stays back to work at his house, defying the possibility of gaining a bad reputation for living with a man alone. We gradually learn that Ashwin is a nice person who does not care about class differences and respects Ratna like any other person in his life. He speaks up for her when an acquaintance of his scolds Ratna for accidentally spilling a drink on her. Over time Ashwin learns about Ratna's dream to become a fashion designer when Ratna asks Ashwin's permission to go to tailoring classes and expresses her wish to become a fashion designer. Ashwin initially thinks light of her desire, but immediately corrects himself and apologises to Ratna, saying 'everyone has the right to dream'. Ratna empathises with Ashwin as he is stuck in Mumbai for his family, and is not able to follow his dream to write. They sync emotionally. Ratna gifts Ashwin a handmade shirt for his birthday. He wears the shirt to work that same day, agreeing to Ratna's request not to tell anyone she made it for him. Meanwhile, Ratna learns that her sister is getting ready for marriage before completing her diploma. She is disappointed to know her sister is more enthusiastic to come to Mumbai than to complete her studies. But Ashwin consoles her by saying that the groom might be a good person, who wants his wife to be independent. He gives her some money as a gift for her sister's wedding even though she resists. He calls her when she is away for the wedding to check in with her. The attention makes her uncomfortable, and emotionally confused. Upon her return to work for Ashwin, the dynamic changes between them. Ashwin becomes enamoured with Ratna. He also gives Ratna a sewing machine as a gift. Soon after, on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, Ashwin returns home to find a carefree Ratna dancing with a crowd of people celebrating the festival. After a silent but charged elevator ride up to his apartment, Ashwin expresses his feelings. Ratna allows Ashwin's advances for a moment while they share a kiss, then strongly expresses her will against any possible relationship. When Ashwin asks her to go out with him, she takes him to the building rooftop where they share some thoughts and have a conversation. Ashwin discourages her from calling him 'sir' while Ratna asks him to forget about their encounter that night. When Ashwin's friend learns of his feelings, he discourages him from being in a relationship with a maid and reminds him of the social repercussions of such a relationship. He says that for Ratna's sake, he should not act on his feelings. The next day, Ratna, as the maid, is asked to cook for a party at Ashwin's mother's place. Ashwin unintentionally makes Ratna uncomfortable by asking if he should wait for her to go back home, provoking mockery from other household employees. When they return to Ashwin's apartment, Ratna makes it clear that they cannot be in a relationship as she will not be welcome among his family and friends, and vice-versa, and that if her family came to know of their relationship, she would be forced to return to a restrictive village life. When he insists on being together, she decides to quit her job and leaves, despite Ashwin's request that he might help her in any way even if she no longer wants to be in the house. She tells him not to worry for her or contact her. Ratna moves to her sister's house, while Ashwin tells his father that he is in love with Ratna and will be moving back to New York. After some time, we see Ratna getting hired by Ashwin's friend who is a fashion designer, through Ashwin's recommendation. Ratna rushes off to Ashwin's house to see him but finds the door bolted and the flat vacant. Dejected, she goes to the rooftop, where she unexpectedly receives a call from Ashwin. Finally, understanding his insistence on seeing her as an equal, she reconciles with her identity crisis and responds to his call by addressing him by his first name "Ashwin". This also indicates that despite social differences, there can be love.

The film is set in East Berlin, in the period from October 1989 to a few days after German reunification in October 1990. Alex Kerner lives with his mother Christiane, his sister Ariane, and Ariane’s infant daughter Paula. Alex's father purportedly abandoned the family for a mistress in the West in 1978. His mother joined the Socialist Unity Party and devoted her time to advocating for citizens. Alex is disillusioned by the celebration of East Germany's 40th anniversary and participates in an anti-government demonstration. There he meets a girl, but they are separated by the Volkspolizei before they can introduce themselves. Christiane, seeing Alex being arrested and beaten, suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma because nobody initially comes to her aid. Visiting his mother in the hospital, Alex finds that her nurse, Lara, is the girl from the demonstration. She (an exchange student from the Soviet Union) and Alex begin dating shortly afterward. Erich Honecker resigns, Egon Krenz takes over, the borders are opened, the Berlin Wall falls, East Germany holds free elections, and capitalism comes to East Berlin. Alex begins working for a West German firm selling and installing satellite dishes. He befriends a Western colleague, aspiring filmmaker Denis Domaschke. Ariane drops out of university, where she studied economics, and begins working at Burger King, dating her manager Rainer, who moves into their apartment. After eight months, Christiane awakens from her coma. Her doctor warns her family that she is still weak and any shock might cause another, possibly fatal, heart attack. Alex resolves to conceal the profound societal changes from her and maintain the illusion that the German Democratic Republic is just as it was before her coma. He retrieves their old East German furniture, makes everyone in the flat dress in old, East German clothes, and repackages new Western food in old East German jars. The deception becomes increasingly complicated as Christiane witnesses strange occurrences, such as a gigantic Coca-Cola banner on an adjacent building. Denis and Alex create fake news broadcasts in the style of old East German news tapes to explain these odd events. Alex and Ariane fail to find where Christiane keeps her life savings (in East German marks) in time to exchange them for West German marks before the deadline. Christiane gets stronger and one day wanders outside while Alex is asleep. She sees her neighbours' old East German furniture stacked in the street, new West German cars for sale, advertisements for Western corporations, and a statue of Lenin being flown away by helicopter. Alex and Ariane take her back home and Alex shows her a fake newscast explaining East Germany is now accepting refugees from the West following an economic crisis there. Ariane tells Alex she is pregnant with Rainer's baby; it will be half East German and half West German, a symbol of the new Germany. At the family dacha Christiane reveals her secret: her husband had fled not for a mistress but because of the difficulties he faced for refusing to join the ruling party. The plan had been for the rest of the family to join him. Christiane, fearing the government would take her children if things went wrong, decided to stay. Contrary to what she had told her children, their father wrote many letters that she hid. As she declares her wish to see her husband one last time to make amends, she relapses and is taken back to hospital. Alex meets his father, Robert, who has remarried, has two children, and lives in West Berlin. He convinces Robert to see Christiane one last time. Under pressure to reveal the truth about the fall of the East, Alex creates a final fake news segment, persuading a taxi driver (who strongly resembles cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space and Alex's childhood hero) to act in the false news report as the new leader of East Germany and to give a speech about opening the borders to the West. However, unbeknownst to Alex, Lara had already recounted the true political developments to Christiane earlier that day. Christiane dies two days later, outliving the German Democratic Republic by three days after German reunification. The family and friends scatter her ashes in the wind using a toy rocket Alex made with his father during childhood.