故事发生的背景是1984年的东德，当时德国人民被东德国家情报局“斯塔西“用强硬手腕控制。东德的秘密警察威斯勒（乌尔里希-穆埃饰）奉命潜入一栋大厦，负责监控著名剧作家德瑞曼（塞巴斯蒂安-考奇饰）和他的女朋友——著名的女演员西兰（玛蒂娜-戈黛特饰）。德瑞曼被警方怀疑撰写反动文章，但是“斯塔西“一直没有证据，无法正式逮捕他。这次派遣威斯勒过来就是监视他们的生活，从而找到可以将德瑞曼定罪的关键证据。威斯勒日以继夜的监视着他们，不知不觉中竟然融入到他们的生活。威斯勒对德瑞曼从陌生到熟悉，竟然对他产生了友谊，还成为威德曼和西兰爱情的见证者，这一对情侣时不时会发生争执，威斯勒负责调和，慢慢地他们二人都已经把威斯勒当成朋友，经常和他分享一些秘密，但是他们不知道自己正在陷入危险中

The background of the story is East Germany in 1984, when the German people were controlled by the East German National Intelligence Agency "Stasi" with a strong hand. East Germany's secret police officer Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) is ordered to infiltrate a building to monitor the famous playwright Dreman (Sebastian Koch) and his girlfriend - Famous actress Sealan (Martina Godette). Dreyman was suspected by the police of writing reactionary articles, but the "Stasi" had no evidence to formally arrest him. Sending Whistler this time is to monitor their lives, so as to find key evidence that can convict Dreyman. Whistler watched them day and night, unknowingly integrated into their lives. Weissler became familiar with Dreyman from being unfamiliar to him, and even became a witness to the love between Widman and Sealand. The couple had disputes from time to time, and Weissler was responsible for mediation, slowly Both of them had regarded Wiesler as a friend and often shared some secrets with him, but they didn't know that they were in danger