During the Cold War, many of those who tried to flee westward across the dangerous and blurred line separating communist Czechoslovakia from freedom were gunned down: the story of Europe's deadliest border.

Alice Cordes is to spend Christmas with her boyfriend Nicolas Huber's family in Upper Bavaria. Although the Hamburg chef no longer has parents herself, she initially reacts hesitantly to the invitation: a family celebration? But they haven't known each other that long. Unfortunately, their journey together comes to nothing: Nicolas is held up by work and has to join them. Alice only finds out about this at the train station in snowy Bavaria.