A beach outside Leningrad in the winter of 1941: two women, mother and daughter, make their way back to the city with a handful of meat. The meat could be both of their salvations from starvation - had the daughter not already devoured it. During a long walk back to the city, the women's relationship is put to the test.

East Germany. Summer, late 70's. Three years after her boyfriend Wassilij's apparent death, Nelly Senff decides to escape from behind the Berlin wall with her son Alexej, leaving her traumatic memories and past behind. Pretending to marry a West German, she crosses the border to start a new life in the West. But soon her past starts to haunt her as the Allied Secret Service begin to question Wassilij's mysterious disappearance. Is he still alive? Was he a spy? Plagued by her past and fraught with paranoia, Nelly is forced to choose between discovering the truth about her former lover and her hopes for a better tomorrow.

Two couples who can't stand each other need to become friends. Because this is their only chance for a life-saving organ donation.