Little Angel tells the story of a woman who is consumed by the need to provide maternal love. Ramona lives on her own in a run-down dis­trict of East Berlin near the Ostkreuz subway sta­tion. From her rear window she observes the lives of the other residents in her apartment block, tak­ing particular interest in Maria, a child verging on adolescence who looks after her pregnant, alco­holic mother, and her baby sibling, while silently enduring drunken fights between mother and boyfriend. Ramona knowingly watches this sce­nario unfold and the looks she exchanges with Maria suggest that they recognise their shared fate as neglected 'little angels' who will never receive the kind of love they crave.

One day in the train station. Ramona is kissed by Andrzej, a Polish black-marketeer peddling cigarettes, who uses her to divert attention from his activities during a police raid. Later, after meeting again, the two begin a romance which alleviates their mutual isolation and before long they are seriously in love. Ramona falls pregnant and the couple's future happiness seems assured but events transpire that shatter Ramona's tentative happiness and stability.