Rabentage

Alfred and Heinz are friends, although they are from different social backgrounds and have very little in common. They keep running into each other in Munich during the last days of autumn. Their unresolved issues, past and present, begin to crystallize in the course of various encounters, some painful, others promising. Full of futile longing for his wife, the homeless Alfred drifts from one casual acquaintance to the next. He tries his luck with each, without managing to achieve any lasting relationships, leaving, however, several memorable misunderstandings in his wake. This doesn’t bother him nearly as much as the fact that his wife will soon die of the serious burns she suffered while setting fire to her employer’s house: during a last visit at the hospital, they have suddenly realized how much they loved each other. Heinz has completely withdrawn from conventional society. Once a well-paid engineer, he tired of that life, and began to drink; his wife left him and he lost track of his daughter. He sees her for the first time in many years, performing in a sex show. Although it is painful for both of them to meet in these humiliating circumstances, a small miracle occurs: they talk to each other, and Heinz feels that he may be able to make amends for the lost years.