Eastern Germany, Potsdam, summer of 1985. Sixteen-year-old René is left alone in the house. His mother is deceased, his father is away at a conference in Switzerland, after leaving his son with 1000 marks, which René shares with his friends, Dirk, Michael, and Mario. The four boys explore their almost empty town, take walks, recite Baudelaire, visit trendy cafes, drink, smoke, and compete among themselves to see who has the highest intelligence. Friendship, the books they read, the music they listen to, and the girls they want to conquer dominate their time.
A hymn to eternal youth by André Kubiczek, an eyewitness to the cosmic changes in the late '80s and the collapse of the communist regime. The bittersweet, rebellious, romantic era of adolescent questioning by a youth whose blood boils and seeks outlets in a repressive society, against the backdrop of the everyday life of Cold War Eastern Germany.