This is a story about a leftist family in the UK who decide to emigrate to a communist country (East Germany), because they want to live in a country where everyone is equal and there is social and economic justice for all. Frank Ratcliff (Iain Glen) is the father / husband and an English teacher. Dorothy (Catherine Tate) is the mother / wife. She is a housewife. They have two daughters. Alex (Brittany Ashworth) is the older one, decadent, into painting and boys. Mary (Jessica Barden) loves socialism and her father. Uncle Philip (Nigel Betts) is Dorothy's brother. He lives with them, wants to be a photographer but was unemployed in Britain. Very soon after emigrating, they feel so in love with their socialist new home that they renounce their British citizenship and burn their passports. As time passes they discover life in the GDR (German Democratic Republic) is not very democratic and the country is a republic in name only. There are severe restrictions on anything from the West, whether it be ideas, music, dress, food, books etc. There is severe censorship on everything and people are punished severely for the slightest infringement of the socialist ideals as defined by the government of the GDR in 1968. Finally, the family has had enough and they illegally escape by crossing the border to West Germany in a hot air balloon.