To mark the successful conclusion of Christmas business, the management of a large department store presents the employees with a bottle of “quality brandy” as a token of appreciation. Foreign and non-permanent employees are excluded – such as the cleaning lady Maria, whose work only begins after the other employees have left the department store, and the night watchman Joseph. Shortly before Christmas Eve, they start talking in the empty department store, telling each other the stages of their lives, their wishes and dreams, hopes dashed and kept, political and private troubles.