On the night of June 16,2004, in an East German town, two drunk teenage boys attacked a homeless man in the street. When they realized that he had nothing to rob, they beat him up and set him on fire. Here, we follow five individuals in the 24 hours prior to the crime: Karsten, an unemployed bricklayer previously convicted for assault; Till, an apprentice painter who wants to get out of town; Steffi, Till's girlfriend who wants to be a beautician; Gunter a veteran policeman who is estranged from his son; and Heinrich, whose snack bar will soon be a parking lot.