Like ghosts, the temporarily shut down cruise ships lie in the port of Hamburg. A young man comes into town and is stranded on the riverbank, waiting for a message. He watches couples strolling along in the sunset and gets himself some sweets. In a moment of collective pause, ISLANDS IN THE CITY captures a fragile romance. There is a departure in the air, the destination of which no one seems to know.

Louis Fried goes in search of traces in the Hamburg district of Hammerbrook. An area in whose appearance war and Nazi rule are inscribed to this day. Between wasteland and reconstruction, memorials and urban planning, he encounters his own family history.