One night when seeking his estranged wife, Hoffmann goes to the youth center where she works. The police are there rounding up radicals who frequent the center - Hoffmann runs into the building and ends up being shot in the head. He awakens with brain trauma, partially paralyzed and unable to speak. The police accuse him of stabbing an officer; the radicals herald him as an innocent victim of police brutality. During his slow recovery at the hospital, Hoffmann must piece together his life and struggle to remember the events of that night.

We follow 15-year-old Paule‘s hard life on his parents' farm. Under his controlling father – who is fighting to save the homestead – he and his brother are forced to work very hard. When his brother leaves, the shy and obedient Paule meets the city girl Elfi – and with her a reason to rebel against the despotic and coarse father.