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While eavesdropping on the conversation of two women, fourteen-year-old Benja learns of an old woman who lives in a mysterious villa. He decides to look for her. Following her husband's death, seventy-one-year-old Johanna Haupt just wants to be left alone with her happy memories of the past. She notes down all her daily activities to the last detail as if this diary were the only thing keeping her alive and she tries to categorize all the information from the media concerning the world's affairs according to her perception of their importance. It is 1990 - a year after the "Wende" - Germany's reunification. When the son of the previous owner of the villa appears to have the property valued, he discovers Frau Haupt living there. She was supposed to have moved out. Benja offers to help her and invites her to live with him. He has no idea that they have touched upon a secret which encircles them both.