How do you become who you are? Through the slights one experiences, believes freelance journalist and author Dirk Gieselmann. One late evening, he is alone in his apartment. His camera is set up in front of him, with which he records himself. In doing so, he first introduces himself personally and announces that he will call three people. In the telephone calls that follow, he confronts his interlocutors with long-ago encounters, experienced ruthlessness and the accusation that they drove him out of the paradise of childhood. That evening, he wants to know what the reasons were for the slights and hopes to be able to make sense of them. He realizes that his childhood has finally come to an end and remembers the world of thoughts that surrounded him when he was a little boy. Then he receives an unexpected call from his family.
Project manager Kevin returns to his childhood on the island of Sylt on a vacation with his daughter, motivated by closing a big deal there, since his company plans to build luxury apartments on a piece of land.
On the North Sea coast, jack of all trades Knud tries his hand at crab fishing, betting on sports and small-time cons. He’s just trying to score an award for his Shanty Choir, which has seen better days, when his son Lenny shows up for the first time in a decade.
In the near future crime rates are at an all time high. The government counters this development with a new prison: The Vortex. Innocent citizen Vincent is sent there, after he killed a man who tried to rob him in self-defense. In the Vortex everybody has to commit their crime over and over again. Vincents first victim is his neighbour Carl.