Цыганская мать-одиночка Али, которую отец выгнал из дома, пытается устроить свою жизнь в Гамбурге, вкалывая на нелегальных работах. Однажды в ночном клубе, где проходят бои, она встречает такого же неудавшегося, бывшего боксера Танне. Он обнаруживает в ней боксерский талант — когда-то Али была чемпионкой среди юниоров. В финальном бою побеждает не тот, кто злее или сильнее, а кому есть за что биться.
John Gruber is in his mid thirties, an egocentric, living life in the fast lane and sparing no expense. But all of a sudden he is thrown off track by a cancer diagnosis and by the person who unwillingly delivers the news: Sarah, a DJane from Berlin, who is not his type at all. Feelings just aren’t Gruber’s cup of tea and now, without having asked for them, he has more than ever before…
Patriarch and entrepreneur August Manzl is terminally ill. As his four grown-up children are all spoiled and sluggish, he comes up with a rather cynical idea to determine the future leader of the families empire: whoever of his children shows the courage and willpower to end his suffering within the next week will become the sole heir - and simultaneously proof the skills necessary to succeed in a modern business world. Between the children a murderous competition evolves.
Simon Granderath has been found dead in his appartment. His only daughter, Monika Besse, who lives in Luxembourg, arrives to arrange the funeral and settle his estate. She wishes to get back to Luxembourg and to her normal life as quickly as possible.
However, she quickly realizes that in fact, she hardly knew her father, and tries to trace the various stages and encounters that made up his life.
Much later, she realizes that the search for the identity of her father has actually become a search of her own identity – though still she believes she can get closer to her father after his death.
Georg, who is happy with his job as a scientist, with his loving wife and with his three children, hears one day that an accident has happened in a chemical plant nearby. All of a sudden, he finds himself face to face with one of the victims. The man, whose face has been eaten away by the sour gas that escaped from the plant, is staring at him in despair. Does Georg really see the man or is this a mere hallucination? Is he becoming insane or is he more alert to the dangers of the world than the common man?
A complex and enigmatic plot that evokes the life of Bachmann. The story develops around an unusual triangular relationship, a threesome between a woman of unknown name, a man named Malina and a Hungarian, Ivan, with whom she falls in love. Ivan will be his last great love, but their need for exclusivity in love is so strong that it can not be understood or matched. Malina is a struggle, a confrontation between two worlds strange and hostile.
