Hanna lives in a small town. When her husband Karl had to go to war, she single-handedly got her family and her husband's carpentry business through the hardships of the war and the post-war period. She now enjoys working with wood and has learned to love this profession. For her, work is no longer just about earning money. Hanna enjoys creating something with her own hands that she can look at with joy afterwards and is proud of having saved the family business through the difficult times with her own efforts. She manages the double burden of work and family with the help of her mother-in-law Marianne and the carpenter's assistant Xaver without any major difficulties. When her husband returns from captivity in 1952, he wants Hanna to take on her old role of housewife and mother again, but despite all her efforts she is no longer able to do so. Although Karl senses that Hanna had to emancipate herself during his absence and that she now wants an equal partnership with Karl, he takes refuge in the old, patriarchal value system - and the man has the last word there. Hanna feels restricted, misunderstood and patronized, and Karl, broken by the war, cannot pick up where he left off many years ago. When Mayor Hans Zollner tries to force the sale of the carpentry shop to his cousin, Karl and Hanna must learn that you cannot turn back the wheel of time...