이보다 더 다를 수 없는 삶을 사는 두 사람이 프랑크푸르트 중앙역 인근의 퇴락한 동네 반호프스피어텔(Bahnhofsviertel)에서 우연히 마주친다. 미술관 큐레이터 모니카는 한 술집에서 경찰의 불시 단속 중에 조세프를 우연히 알게 된다. 수출입 거래로 근근히 생활을 유지해 나가는 조세프는 콩고 출신 사업가로 콩고에 있는 다이아몬드 광산에 투자할 사람을 찾고 있다. 이 우연한 만남을 시작으로 두 사람은 뜨겁게 사랑하는 연인 관계로 발전한다. 외부의 압박과 편견에도 관계를 유지할 수 있을 거라 믿었던 두 사람 사이에 점점 불신이 싹트고, 결국 그들의 삶은 포스트식민주의적 갈등의 무대가 되고 만다. 모니카와 조세프가 동등한 관계에서 서로를 사랑하는 것은 애초에 가능한 것이었을까?
For her first television film, director Vera wants the perfect cast. But the first day of shooting is fast approaching and the numerous casting sessions have yet to find a suitable actress to play the leading role. Although the producer and crew are getting ever more exasperated with Vera, Gerwin is happy about the extra work, as he earns his money as an audition reader, delivering the lines of dialogue to the starry candidates at the various castings. When the male lead suddenly has to back out, Gerwin thinks that this might just be his chance.
May is raised by her grandparents in the German province. On a hot summer day May's interest in the Polish boy Piotr is sparked by boredom. May faces him provocatively, which leads on to a short moment of tenderness but ends in betrayal.
Henry is alone in a silent and darkened apartment, anxious and waiting by the phone, as his small child sleeps. Finally, a call. His wife Claire is on the other side of the world on a beach at a luxury resort, drunk, also in the dark, but apparently with another man. An adulterous affair, or a life in danger? In the harrowing wait and frantic calls that follow, is it his marriage, his wife or his sanity that is most under threat? The telephone line is the single fragile thread that connects them. All Henry can do is to hang onto that phone.
