Markus Färber's life becomes completely unhinged when his wife dies in a sudden accident. He gets on his gothic, 15-year-old daughter Kim's nerves with endless helpless brave talk, and stands utterly beside himself in his catering company. In an attempt to bring some normality to their life, grandmother Gerlinde cooks for them. Until she begins to suffer from cancer and lies to Markus, telling him that she must go away for a while, so as not to burden him any further. Kim fails to cope with the situation any longer and elopes to Denmark with her boyfriend Alex, to the place where she and her family used to spend their holidays. They break into a house in the dunes and just drift along. When Gerlinde finds out about her granddaughter's disappearance, she and her son set out to Denmark. They are joined by Gerlinde's free-spirited nurse Paula. She and Markus begin to approach one another on their search for the runaway.