Udo Struutz (Wolfgang Stumph), a teacher in the East German town of Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, is a great fan of Goethe and wants to visit all the places described in Goethe’s Italian Journey. Following the German reunification in 1990, he sees the possibility to do so since it is now possible for him and his wife Rita (Marie Gruber) and daughter Jacqueline (Claudia Schmutzler) to travel to Italy. Driving in their family Trabant 601 (called “Schorsch”), they set out to go on their first vacation in the “west”.  They simply want to visit Italy. But there are some incidents during their journey.