Germany, 1946. Hunger, rubble, returning soldiers. Charlotte is pregnant, but her beloved returnee does not want her or his child. In order to win him over and escape the impending shame, she enrolls in the "missing course" of actress Gloria Deven, who was an up-and-coming film star under Fascism and is now banned from working. But Gloria, with her merciless lessons, is not interested in reviving the coquetry of girls that became superfluous in the war. Instead, she awakens in Lotte a longing for something too long denied her: Freedom.