The year is 1989 and East and West Germany are still divided. Alex and his sister Ariane live in East Germany with their single mother, Christiane who is a staunch Socialist. When Alex's mother witnesses his arrest in a protest march, she suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma for eight months, just enough time for the Berlin wall to come tumbling down along with all of East Germany's ideals.
When Christiane wakes up things have changed. The doctors warn Alex that any shock could bring on a fatal heart attack, so Alex devises a plan to convince his mother that her beloved Communism has not been overthrown but is in fact triumphing over Capitalism. Alex sets out to recreate every detail of the old East inside the four walls of their tiny council flat. What begins as a little white lie, soon turns into a major deception with hilarious consequences.