East Berlin, early 1980s: Ludger is hired by the Stasi to spy on the oppositional arts scene in Prenzlauer Berg. But when he falls in love with the mysterious Nathalie, he has to choose between a life as a celebrated underground poet and his career as a Stasi agent. A choice that will turn back on him 30 years later.

Karl, a 17-year-old boy who spends most of his time collecting pictures and videos for his blog, finds a new purpose when he falls in love with his fellow student Doro.

We look back at more than half a century of mysterious artistic creation while trying to crack a unique artistic code. Why are people moved to tears when Robert “Bob” Wilson puts minimalistic petrol pumps into a production of Shakespeare’s sonnets? Why does merciless repetition change our understanding of something? Together with Tom Waits, Willem Dafoe or Marina Abramović we trace back our own experience of Bob’s art. Is it true what Philipp Glass the collaborator of the milestone piece “Einstein on the Beach” laughingly and with apparent pleasure exclaims “what does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything!”?

JESUS CRIES is a modern adaptation of the New Testament. The story is set in a fictitious metropolis in the near future. The First and Third Worlds are reflected in one city. The divide between poor and wealthy continually grows. As insurrection begins, Jesus of Nazareth becomes the political and spiritual force behind change. He is arrested, tortured, and executed. After his death, his disciples are thrown into confusion with feelings of doubt and guilt. They fight over the interpretation of his teachings and their responsibility to his vision. Will they themselves move to action?

A mysterious phone call puts Kluftinger and his colleagues Maier and Hefele on the trail of a brutal series of murders. A serial killer who cuts out the hearts of his victims and drapes them macabrely at the crime scene is up to mischief in the Allgäu. There is hardly any time for Kluftinger's own worries, the chest pains that are making his life hell.

The two friends Nora and Isabel, both disabled, try to lead normal lives. Strangely enough, it is their family, well-meaning friends and care workers who appear not to want normality at all. When Nora decides to marry her immigrant lover Amadou, her family does everything in its power to stop her.

Josef, a con man, meets Yasmina, a business woman, in a bar. Their wandering is punctuated by encounters seesawing between beings lost and alienated by the modern life. In a world on the brink of collapse, these characters seek to give meaning to their lives.