Two women, best friends living in contemporary Berlin. Nike and Katrin are, like many of his protagonists, unexceptional. They are not particularly ambitious and neither poor nor rich. They like a drink and a good time but mostly take pleasure in each other’s company, lounging on Nike’s second-floor balcony. Nike enters a doomed relationship with a trucker named Ronald and Katrin suffers a psychological breakdown after a thwarted rape. A third character, Katrin’s adolescent son Max, acts as both a glue between them and a witness to their complex relationship. His relationship with women might even be the narrative’s driving force: his failed seduction of a school friend sets in motion a difficult period for both the women.