Filmic adaptation of Wolfgang Borchert′s play "Draußen vor der Tür" featuring additional flashbacks and a conciliatory ending. Beckmann, a soldier who returns from several years in Russian captivity finds out that his wife is with another man now and that his son is dead. In his desperate state, Beckmann sees only one solution for himself because he is no longer able to cope with this situation – but then he meets Anna, a young widow who has also lost her will to live, at the bank of the Elbe river. They begin to tell their stories to each other.