Opening in remote Kurdistan, Eine Hand Voll Gras introduces us to the impoverished family of 10-year-old Kendal (Arman Inci). In desperate need for cash to fund his older sister's wedding, Kendal's parents allow themselves to be persuaded by Kendal's uncle (Ercan Durmaz), who lives in Germany, to let the boy go to Germany to make some money. Upon their arrival in Hamburg, the uncle is arrested and Kendal ends up in the temporary care of Hellkamp (Oliver Korittke), a cabby with a shady past. Hellkamp drops Kendal off in the Turkish quarter but eventually has pity on him and takes him to a neighbor's apartment. Soon, a group of Central Asian drug pushers come to co-opt the boy for their own purposes, and Kendal quickly becomes adept at dealing pills for them. Six months later, he meets Hellkamp again, and, after Hellkamp's past is revealed, the fates of the man and boy become inextricably bound up in one another.