Set in a country estate beside the river Alz, the focus on this intellectual German drama, an adaptation of a text by Goethe, is on the complex interaction and conversations between four people involved with the film industry. Edouard is a restless filmmaker who is planning to make a film out of his fiancee Charlotte's upcoming first book. She is an actress and will star in the film. To help with the scripting, Edouard invites screenwriter Otto to stay with them. The last member of the quartet is Charlotte's pretty niece Ottilie, a classical guitar student. Tensions arise when Charlotte and Otto find each other equally inept as writers. Much of the film centers upon the heavy and frequently aloof discourse that goes on between the foursome as they wrangle their way towards finishing and marketing the script.