Black Box BRD steps back into German history, showing the Federal Republic of Germany of the 1970s and 1980s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the Red Army Faction, and thus on a constant brink of civil war. Society is torn, the fronts are irreconcilable. The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are tragically linked to this era.

Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor. Herrhausen, however, seizes power and dies when powerful. Their curricula vitae lead through the enemy camps of the Federal Republic, through opposing worlds that have had a speechless and uncomprehending attitude toward each other until now. The fight is over, but the wounds are still open.