A beach outside Leningrad in the winter of 1941: two women, mother and daughter, make their way back to the city with a handful of meat. The meat could be both of their salvations from starvation - had the daughter not already devoured it. During a long walk back to the city, the women's relationship is put to the test.
31-year old Ilja Felder works in crisis intervention. When assessing a bereaved mother after her son committed suicide, Ilja struggles, but refuses to admit his weakness to himself and his supervisor Nadia. Soon he drives out to his first unaccompanied assignment - a road accident during a stormy night. When the accident perpetrator turns out to be suicidal, Ilja completely loses his nerves and almost makes a fatal mistake. As a result, he finally has to acknowledge that he can no longer ignore his past.
In Germany and Russia, people drink the same amount of pure alcohol: ten liters per capita per year. Two Germans and two Russians are “functioning” young alcoholics. All four are trying to stop drinking. Drinking, however, is so woven into our everyday lives that we no longer even notice it: As long as we function, we drink. And as long as we drink, we function. How can we break out of this vicious circle?
Charlotte's life seems like the ordinary life of a middle-class woman: work, child from her first marriage, evenings with a new partner. But she fails to establish warm relations with her loved ones. After one strange night meeting, Charlotte decides to radically change the situation.