Carbide and Sorrel

After the war's end, Karl Blücher surveys the ruined Dresden cigarette factory. The workers task him with obtaining carbide to repair the roof. He heads toward Wittenberge because his brother-in-law works there at a carbide company, and they hope this will help him survive the journey. He is single and vegetarian, a factor the workers believe will aid him on the road.

Karl walks to Wittenberge. His brother-in-law gives him seven 50-kilogram barrels, but he cannot assist with transportation. He braces for a long road back to Dresden to deliver them. The burden tests his endurance from the start.

A good-looking war widow named Karla invites Karl to load the barrels on her wagon and take a short distance to her farmhouse. They spend the night together, and a romance begins to bloom. Karl promises to return after he completes the delivery.

Karl hitches a ride on a truck in exchange for his cigarettes. While waiting for another ride, he hunts mushrooms in a nearby forest. An old man warns him that the woods are still mined, forcing him to rethink his path.

Soviet soldiers find him in a seemingly empty barn and take him to their commandant. The sympathetic commander believes his story but explains that he needs permits from Dresden and Potsdam to transport raw materials between regions. Karl persuades the captain in charge of supplies to grant stamped authorization and a cart for two barrels.

Driven by hunger, Karl tries to fish with carbide, hoping to supplement his rations. The first barrel contains chalk; the second actually contains carbide. When the carbide reacts with water, an explosion spooks the soldiers and lands him back in custody.

Karl trades one barrel for a 30-kilometre truck ride. Along the way they pick up a middle-aged singer, and later Karin, a teenage orphan who wants to go to America. The journey continues with the barrels in tow.

The trio finds an abandoned boat and sets out to ferry the barrels and passengers down the Elbe. The singer leaves the boat the next morning after failing to steal it. Karl rows Karin and the barrels, but when an oar breaks they are stranded on a concrete pillar of a wrecked bridge and the boat drifts away with the remaining barrels.

An American soldier in a motorboat offers help in exchange for a barrel, but cannot patrol into Soviet territory. Karl steals the boat, docks, and meets Clara, a middle-aged widow who tries to ply him with liquor. He becomes too drunk to proceed with her, and two German ex-soldiers arrive; one sleeps with Clara, and the next morning they steal Karl's barrels, forcing him to drive them off.

An undertaker offers a ride in exchange for a eulogy. Karl naps in an empty coffin and surprises a hitchhiker when he emerges. At the funeral, the mourners realize the joke and slip away in haste.

In a black market, Karl tries to trade for a barrel and is arrested. He escapes and is recaptured, but the man in charge believes he is working for the Soviet occupiers and releases him.

After around six weeks, he returns to the factory with two barrels of carbide. He finds letters from Karla waiting at the factory and, with renewed resolve, borrows a bicycle to begin the journey back to Wittenberge.