Following the death of his beloved wife Maria, successful product designer Jost discovers that she had been conducting an email correspondence with a woman in which she had been portraying Jost’s life as a sought-after design as though it were her own. In his grief, Jost cannot bear to tell this woman about his wife’s death. And so he continues to correspond with her, taking on his wife’s persona. When he eventually falls in love with the unknown woman, he seeks her out at a seaside resort, only to discover that she has not been entirely truthful about her life either. The Ritz Palace that Anni has described in her emails as a luxury hotel turns out to be a remote pub surviving only through the clientele of the adjacent bowling alley. There by the sea Anni lives with her mother Jennie, sheltered from the great emotions of life.