Clara has made it: she got away from her native provincial East Germany and is now living an independent life in Berlin teaching philosophy while finishing her Ph.D.
Between her professional ambitions, an affair with one of her students, and her demanding friendship with her thesis advisor, she barely has time for her family. When Clara visits her mother for a weekend with her 15-year-old daughter Emma, she finds herself confronted with her ideal of an unfettered, self-determined life and the price she must pay for it.
