Susanne Wallner returns to the ruins of Berlin from a Concentration Camp after WW2 to discover that someone else lives in her apartment: Dr. Hans Mertens, the war made him depressive and he drinks a lot of alcohol. Susanne asks him to go but he doesn't want to, so they share Susanne's apartment and even discover their sympathy and then their love for each other. That encourages him a little, of course. But then he hears that Ferdinand Brückner is still alive and also lives in Berlin. Brückner was his Captain during WW2, he gave the order to kill more than 100 innocent people, many children and women among them, on Christmas 1942 in Poland.
Summary written by Cinemator。1934年旧历除夕,建筑工人王正庭因为老板扣发工钱,家里穷得没有米下锅。王妻拿了家里仅有的几件破衣服去典当行典押,典当行嫌衣裳破旧,不同意典当。他们刚刚生下一对一男一女的双胞胎,也因为没有奶水喂养,饿得哇哇直哭,一家人陷入饥寒交迫的困境。。