Tomek is 14 and a good student. He's interested in astronomy and plays football to please his father. The only thing is, he lives in a poor little border town plagued by unemployment, whereas across the river lies Germany with all its relative affluence. Tomek meets Marta at a disco and falls in love with her. He starts to think up ways of earning money in order to keep her interested. He approaches a pimp who seeks out local boys for his German clients. Tomek has no idea of the brutal fate which awaits him.

Ela is a resident of a provincial town in the foothills of the Sudetenland. She raises her 9-year-old son Damian alone. "She tries to survive in the gray of everyday life. Her every day closes in a circle of the same events: working at the local slaughterhouse, caring for her ailing mother and moments with her friend. One day magic and happiness enter the heroine's life.

Helina, a modest checkout assistant at the Butterfly retail chain, dreams about getting a better life for herself and her daughter. An opportunity presents itself when Helina becomes a store manager. However, she soon discovers that the price for better wages and an improved standard of living is dishonesty, employee exploitation, and fraud.

Klara, devoted to her work as a tax inspector, becomes infatuated with the dashing but irresponsible and cynical Marian who is about to be charged with tax evasion.

The story of the late 90s generation and the three friends behind the music: Magik, Fokus and Rahim. The fact-based film charts the relentless struggle for success of Paktofonika, against the backdrop of crumbling traditional values in dreary 90s Silesia.