Controversial figures from contemporary history, a politically explosive time, a well-known female director - Margarethe von Trotta's „Bleierne Zeit“ is in many ways the legendary story of two German sisters who grew up in the narrow-minded 1950s. Politicized by the '68 revolution, both are committed to socio-political change, albeit in very different ways: As a journalist, Juliane wants to revolutionize conditions with words, Marianne with deeds. Marianne joins the armed resistance and is eventually arrested.

Their different approaches make the sisters enemies. And yet their shared history unites them too much to let go. Based on individual stages in the biography of RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin, this feature film vividly depicts the inner and outer struggles of the turbulent 1970s in Germany.