Munich, 1968: 21-year-old Laura, who has emigrated to the USA with her husband Gabriel, returns to her old home in Munich. Laura's father has been killed in a traffic accident a few days earlier. Her younger sister Friede is in a coma. Overwhelmed by the pain, her mother has withdrawn from the outside world. Laura feels abandoned, as she had hoped that the shared grief might help to overcome the tense relationship between her and her mother. Throughout her life, her mother was incapable of empathizing with her children and avoided any physical closeness. When her mother refuses to visit the critically injured Friede in hospital, Laura forces her into a confrontation in the hope of gaining a better understanding of her mother.