Joseph Vilsmaier Two-part TV movie focuses on the tragic events surrounding the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German passenger ship, at the end of World War II. On 30 January 1945, Captain Hellmuth Kehding was in charge of the ship, evacuating wounded soldiers and civilians trapped by the Red Army. Soon after leaving the harbor of Danzig, it was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine and sank in less than an hour.

M/S Gustloff

Gundula Glöckner is very worried about the salvation of her daughter Lena. Again and again, the young woman gets to the wrong men. To help her child's happiness, the resolute widow shortly sets out on a pilgrimage: in Padua she wants to pray for Lena at the tomb of St. Anthony. However, the illustrious Pilgrims on their way to Italy are struggling with a whole series of mishaps and complications. Especially the brash bus driver Benno brings the God-fearing Gundula again and again to the white heat - until she realizes that hides behind its rough shell a vulnerable core.