It's autumn and the landlord of number 13, the only unrenovated house left on Hebelstrasse, has been vacating the building of its tenants for the past two years. 55-year-old janitor Karl Kramer, 72-year-old Elisabeth Buttkies, a retired German teacher, and Marina, a 28-year-old part-time student ...

Anne Liebert fled to the West as a child just before the Wall came down. Later on she returned to East Berlin, eking out a living for herself and her daughter Marie as a geriatric nurse. One of her charges is quietly waiting for the end of his life-but when Anne coerces pensioner Karl Fritzsche ...