In the summer of 1954 the Soviet Union begins sending its prisoners of war home, among them is the father of a quiet, football-loving 11-year-old named Matthias, who lives with his mother, sister and brother in a West-German mining town. The boy has long found a surrogate father in the local football player Helmut Rahn, who has adopted Matthias as his mascot. Now the return of the boy's father casts a shadow over the once-happy family, broken by his years in captivity.