A novel by Ulrich Plenzdorf named Die Legende vom Glück ohne Ende was based on this film.

Paul is a minor bureaucrat in East Berlin, where he lives with his wife and their son in a modern high-rise apartment building.

Paula, a grocery store cashier and single mother of two, lives in a run-down, prewar building directly across from Paul's modern high-rise.

Having thrown out her philandering live-in lover (and father of her younger child), she is seeking more happiness in her tedious life.

Seeking security, she seriously contemplates marriage with an older, successful but dull businessman, and Paul must go to great lengths to win Paula back.