During a storm surge on the North Sea coast in 2007, farm worker Iven takes 3-year old Wienke, the daughter of dike warden Hauke Haien and his wife Elke, to Hamburg and leaves her outside a children’s home. Iven becomes a doorman in St. Pauli. 15 years later, he is visited by a young woman. She wants to know who she is and where she comes from. And she wants him to find her parents. Unwillingly, for he too has a past he would prefer to forget, Iven takes her to the village of Stegebüll on the coast. For the pair, a dramatic journey back in time begins to the fateful events in Stegebüll and the downfall of Hauke Haien and his family.
Harri Pinter, 46, has his best days behind him, not only on the outside: in the 80s, the notorious "drecksau" won the Klagenfurt ice-skating team KAC its master title. As trainer of the youth team, he likes to reminisce about his past successes in dim bars drinking beer. When his longtime girlfriend Ines risks making the break with an university professor, his worldview and self-perception starts to falter...