Gerson Liebl, grandson of a German colonial official from Togo, has been fighting for 30 years for the preservation of German citizenship and a right of residence in Germany. As a last resort, he resorts to a hunger strike. The images of his unflinching perseverance in front of Berlin's Red City Hall are accompanied on the soundtrack by statements, testimonies, paragraphs, legal texts, political viewpoints and excuses – then and now.
A model family's happy life unexpectedly goes off the rails when the carefree Hedi, played by Laura Tonke, suddenly starts having panic attacks. First mental illness and then drug dependency – the happiness that these happy-go-lucky thirty-somethings once took for granted suddenly seems unattainable, and their world fragile and uncertain.
Jessika, a precocious teenage girl with loving parents and a good-natured older sister, is the center of a slightly eccentric family. A series of small events disrupts their delicately balanced ecosystem. Jessika's father loses his job and becomes bored and despondent, while Jessika's mother reenters the workforce and becomes empowered. These events act as catalysts for the slow, painful disintegration of the family, with each member committing shocking acts of alienation and self-destruction. Desperately wanting her family but at the same time desiring her adolescent independence, Jessika struggles to find the best way to restore a balance.
