During his apprenticeship, Bruno Melzer is still full of hope that he will one day be able to escape the mediocrity of his life. But his dream of becoming the architect of his own fortune proves to be a fragile utopia: He marries a casual acquaintance while she is expecting his child. When his wife falls ill with cancer and dies years later, Melzer suddenly has to bear the responsibility of raising three children alone.

Vienna in the eighties. An accidental meeting in a restaurant. She, Hannah, is Jewish and has a live-in lover, a young and successful architect. He, Friedrich, is a German and lives permanently in Vienna. Two worlds collide with another, begin to become entangled in each other. Friedrich too, has his problems. He is a "German", which fascinates and repels Hannah at the same time. She tries to get over her confusion by being ironic and flirtatious. Simultaneously, what she has tried to suppress breaks through in flashbacks...