1963 in New York. Internationally renowned architect Walter Gropius meets with feminist journalist Stine Branderup, who accuses him of suppressing the women at the Bauhaus, the revolutionary art school. Gropius defends himself against the accusation and begins to tell her about the early years of the State Bauhaus in Weimar and young student Dörte Helm.

There is a coup d'état in Germany. Gropius knows that the Bauhaus must remain non-political and threatens to expel any student who expresses a political opinion. Dörte visits her parents' house and feels like a stranger there; she is no longer the devoted daughter from past times. In Weimar the dead, the so-called Fallen of March, are buried.

Dörte flees with Johannes to a commune in the country. Dörte visits her and offers her to resume her studies at the Bauhaus but there's a catch. The divide between Gropius and esoteric Itten grows deeper, splitting the student body into two parties.

Stine asks about Gropius' affair with Dörte. He denies it and would rather talk about art, an evasive behavior that annoys Stine. Dörte's constant protest against the discrimination of women at Bauhaus makes the conservative opponents pay close attention to her special relationship with Gropius.

The Ruhr-crisis leads to inflation in Germany. Stine Branderup reads the court of honor's sentence and finds the prosecution ridiculous. She does not give up on it and questions Gropius on his relationship to Dörte Helm. Gropius denies the love affair until the end and leaves Stine to her assumptions.