Das Lächeln der Tiefseefische plot
School-leaver Malte lives with his alcoholic father in the seaside town of Ahlbeck, near the Polish-German border. Soon he will be eighteen and then he wants to have his driver's license, so that he can finally leave his homeland. But he doesn't have enough money for the exam. And so he and his bosom friend Pavel smuggle cigarettes across the border, a risky hobby. Suddenly his sister Hannah shows up at the door with her son Lukas, after five years of absence. She moves in with father and brother, but their dilapidated villa is in danger of being sold and demolished. A summer crush on sixteen-year-old Annika gives Malte some air...