Angela Merkel has been the first woman chancellor Germany for a year now. She succeeded in making a wonderful start in her new office, making a convincing entrance onto the international scene. After only a few weeks she enjoyed considerable respect abroad, and at home she is more popular than any other politician.

However, the initial euphoric mood was followed by an equally unmistakable sense of disappointment. The reform projects faltered, and arguments about health reform brought the "black-red" coalition to its first crisis. One-time friends of Angela Merkel began to oppose her in public. More than virtually any other chancellor in the past, she now finds herself achieving approval ratings which oscillate wildly. The honeymoon period appears to be over: in domestic politics, there are arguments and disagreements..

Film-maker Claudia Bissinger and Merkel biographer Evelyn Roll assess her first year in government and ask how Angela Merkel, one of the most powerful women in international politics, has fared.  How has she changed, both in her effect on others and in her personal development? Has she remained loyal to her ideals, or has she thrown them overboard? Angela Merkel herself claims that her principle is to take small steps is forward, cautious rather than quickly. Instead of quickly pushing measures through, she now prefers a wide coalition; instead of decisive reforms she chooses gentle modifications. However, her critics describe this as nothing more than hesitation and prevarication.

The makers of this film confront the Chancellor with images from her first year in office and insist on asking questions: what verdict which she herself make on her performance in the year at the head of the government? Roll and Bissinger have accompanied the Chancellor on her way, portraying her first faltering steps in office, her initial appearances abroad and the cut and thrust of domestic politics. During two extensive interviews they ask Angela Merkel about the landmarks of this year and record her reactions: happiness and amusement, anger and indignation, distance and disillusionment. A different and surprising perspective on the first woman to take the job of German Chancellor.
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