The Orient Express, on its night trip from Munich to Venice, is full because of the beginning of the carnival in Venice. Between the passengers are a young writer, an actress, and her daughter, an elderly dancer, five neo-nazi punks, and a strange man that seems to have some kind of influence over them through their dreams.
After a nasty argument with her boyfriend Carl, young Gaby spontaneously accepts her girlfriend invitation to join her on a vacation to Manila. Her plans to forget about Carl succeed very rapidly as she meets Dr. Andreas Witzig, a young scholar who plans to marry his fiancee on the island. During the following days, Gaby tries her best to convince the man of her dreams to change his mind.
Detective Heinz Ebeling's (Peter Eschberg) car breaks down with a broken windshield and a defective fuel pump on the way to Frankfurt. On the way to the next village, Ebeling witnesses a murder and other crimes, which he tries to solve.
