Gabi, a supermarket employee, leads an ordinary life between family and job, between single-family home and local food store. One day when Gabi comes home from work, something happens that changes her life in a single moment. It isn’t visible, it makes no sound, and yet it strikes her like a bolt from the sky – an encounter with God.

Mary and Marquard are painters and lovers, with a common life. Once Marquard gets a prize of a considerable sum of money, his artistic creativity wanes. While Mary works in a series of paintings, Marquard visits his friend Gregor, a horse breeder and philosopher, sleeps with Angie and visits repeatedly her daughter Lucia. Marquard and Lucia, who have begun a tender and compassionate father-daughter relationship, spend two days in a seaside hotel, deciding not to speak in words. The feelings and communication emerge from a very special way. Mary, who does not know the whereabouts and the reason of the absence of Marquard, realizes it by herself: their love is over. Then, she abruptly interrupts her work so far and starts a new painting entitled "The visible and invisible."

Nine-year-old streetwalker Emily lives with her widowed mother in 19th century New York. Her life changes abruptly when she learns that she has been appointed sole heiress by an aging, wealthy Austrian countess. It is not only an heiress who causes turbulence, but also the countess's attempt to raise Emily as a member of the aristocracy.