After an argument with her boyfriend Dennis in a disco Anne goes home alone, leaving him and his friends Raf and Nicole behind. The next day she reads in the paper that two men and a woman are wanted for stabbing a man to death near that disco.

Robin is 16 and has had enough: permanent trouble at school and at home. On the run from his dull everyday life, he joins a group of skinheads. The clique strengthens their sense of belonging by beating up foreign youths. This is how the "apolitical" boy slips into the right-wing scene, and it's not easy to get out of it. When they injure a Turkish girl during a robbery, Robin, of all people, is questioned by the police.

Jörn lives with his brother Thomas at his grandparents', his mother died in an accident and his father works abroad. Jörn misses his mother, whom his grandparents are unable to replace despite their loving care. He lives in a world of his own, at home he writes poetry, but at school he and his gang pull the strings. He seeks out risk and flirts with death. He meets Jil on a daring climbing tour and is magically drawn to her resemblance to his deceased mother. With charm and perseverance, he woos Jil, who makes no secret of the fact that she is living with another man. Jörn, who discovers love, withdraws from the group, barely noticing what is happening around him. Meanwhile, the events at school intensify and he comes under suspicion of having been involved in night-time attacks. The situation comes to a dramatic head when he receives a letter from his father on his birthday, enclosing his mother's farewell letter...