Having a friend like Benno is the best thing that can happen to you. Especially if you're young, your name is David, and you live in Aschleben, the most godforsaken little shit hole in the world. When you see that gleam in Benno's eyes again, you know something good is about to happen ...

One day Anna enters the picture. She comes from Halle and has eyes that sparkle and a saucy grin. She dreams of becoming a star. Of course Benno's the one who wins Anna's heart. David watches from the sidelines and asks himself when his life is ever going to get started.

Alternative civil service, acting school, compulsory military duty: the three of them go their separate ways. When they come together in Aschleben again, the wide wonderful world seems more unattainable than ever. David's father is confined to a wheelchair after an accident at work. His brother can't find an apprenticeship, and David himself, who wants to be a photographer, loses his job at the photography studio. Benno is the only one who still has big plans: He takes out a loan to open a dealership for big American cars. But the only people he ends up doing business with are Polish car thieves. Anna seems content to give up her dreams: She comes back from Berlin after finishing acting school and settles down in Aschleben to be with Benno.

There's a new supermarket in town, and David begins working at the fish counter: It's bad enough, but it's better than nothing. He's sleeping with one of the girls from the perfume section, but Anna is all he really wants, all he ever wanted. Benno is getting sucked deeper and deeper into his illegal activities, and Anna seeks solace in David.

David and Anna spend a passion-filled night together. Benno's reaction to this, however, is different than one might expect: His fighting spirit is back; their friendship will survive.

But David owes him one. Benno needs him to go to Poland with him to help him get out of his crooked business once for all. They take two cars. An American song is playing on the radio. And then - from out of the blue - the time with Benno is over: a time full of shattered hopes and broken dreams, full of furious passion and rage - and, yes indeed, quite simply the best time of their lives.