Berliners call it the ‘washing machine’ or - due to its oversized dimensions and in reference to the person who had it built - the ‘Kohlosseum’. In media coverage, it is usually seen from the outside, in the same old long shot. The Federal Chancellery, the control centre of political power, is familiar to us as imposing capital city architecture and as a news backdrop. Behind it, 480 people keep the office running - civil servants, employees in a wide variety of professions and functions. The political officials who come and go with the Chancellor, and the others who always stay on - the housekeeping manager, the gardener, the lady from the protocol department: their daily bread is the preparation for the big picture - for the Chancellor's policies and their presentation to the outside world. Mechthild Gaßner's documentary series tells the story of these people's everyday working lives backstage.