1979, East Germany during the height of the Cold War. Two ordinary families yearning for freedom secretly form a great escape plan to get across to the West. With courage and ingenuity as their main weapons, they build a hot air balloon with small pieces of cloth for their eight family-members to fly over the Iron Curtain.
But an initial failure puts their entire plan in jeopardy, setting off a dangerous race against time for a second attempt, with the State Police now hot on their heels.