1957 in Berlin. Renate, Angelika and Karin have known each other since they were children. Renate has the idea that the three of them should accept New Zealand`s invitation to young German women to emigrate and find a new home abroad. Whereas Karin is mostly interested in adventure and Angelika wants to escape her past as a prostitute, Renate is hoping to finally locate her father who emigrated to New Zealand twenty years ago. She is encouraged in this by the charismatic Maori pilot Marc who, however, after his business trip is over, leaves Berlin without saying good-bye. At first, the three of them are rather disappointed because they don`t have anything like the kind of freedom they had been hoping for. Together with other immigrants they have been housed in a former army barracks and have to work in a textile factory. But then, Karin gets a job with a fashion designer.