The tale of a woman, Miriam, and her fifteen-year-old son, Michael, who are forced to leave their villa in the upscale Berlin district of Zehlendorf and move to the less than salubrious Neukoelln area. A fish-out-of-water in his new environment, Michael is forced to pay protection money to a local gang. He breaks into his former home in an attempt to buy them off but gets into a fight with the ever more demanding gang leader, Errol. Unfortunately, Michael is rescued by Hamal, an Afghan pretending to be Italian, and, since this is Neukoelln where nothing comes for free, Michael now becomes Hamal’s drugs courier. All goes well until Errol reappears and throws Michael’s backpack from a railway bridge. It lands on a passing commuter train which means Michael is now a liability for Hamal as the boy’s school things together with the money in the bag will alert the police. It comes, as it must, to a showdown.