To escape Christmas, Robert Lahnstein, TV commentator and misanthrope, wants to retreat to his mountain hut. But he puts the car in the ditch and can only use his last strength to escape in the snowstorm to a lonely barn, where six very different people have found refuge from the storm.
In post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175, which criminalizes homosexuality. Over the decades, he develops an unlikely bond with his cellmate Viktor.