Gerd Wiesler is a captain of East German secret police Stasi. He is a master of interrogation process and also teaches interrogation techniques at Stasi school. His supervisor, Oberstleutenant Anton Grubitz, assigns him to monitor the apartment of the playwright Georg Dreyman, who is suspected in some dissident activities. The real reason that the Stasi wants to keep an eye on Dreyman is that he is in love with Christa-Maria Sieland, who is also a love interest of corrupt East German minister Bruno Hempf. While performing the assignment, Wiesler finds himself emotionally connected to the world that Dreyman lives in and being more and more disappointed in the system that he serves. He tries to invisibly aid Dreyman to not get caught, and at the same time to stay from being caught himself.