Lieber Thomas plot
East Germany is still a young country, but Thomas Brasch is already an outsider. His father wants to help build the new German state, but Thomas, the eldest son, wants to become a writer. He is obsessive, a dreamer and a rebel. His very first play is banned and soon after he is expelled from film school. When Soviet tanks roll through Prague in 1968, Thomas and other students demonstrate in the streets of Berlin. His father reports him to the Stasi, which lands him in prison. He is released on parole, works hard, loves and suffers and writes about love, rebellion and death. Because he has no chance of being heard in East Germany, Thomas and his lover leave the homeland that was not theirs. In the West he is praised and his books become bestsellers, but he refuses to appropriate anything and does not leave it at that.