The author describes society and problems in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the early 1960s, in a "quest for personal integrity within a flawed system".

[1] The main characters are Rita Seidel, age 19, and Manfred Herrfurth, a chemist ten years older, who meet at a dance event in a village and become a couple, although they are different.

Manfred, who grew up in a difficult family, becomes disillusioned about the future in the GDR, after one of his engineering designs is refused by economics officials.

[5] She describes the western lifestyle as commercial and materialistic, while she idealises the eastern society as harder, rigid, moral-oriented and demanding faith.

[1] Her tenor was described as an "introspective, autobiographical voice", her trademark in a "quest for personal integrity within a flawed system".