Turkish Alevi Heyder Cengi immigrated illegally to Germany, where he is now employed as an unskilled construction worker. One day, a scuffle breaks out in the course of an inspection – the controller falls from the scaffold and dies.
At the same time, Kemal Kaya, owner of a kebap shop asks lawyer Peter Schlüter to avert his nephew’s extradition to Turkish justice. Emin Gül has been convicted to twenty years of imprisonment for having taken part in an arson attack against a Hotel in Sivas at which 37 people died. A misjudgement, says Kaya.
A little weary – since he has no idea about Turkey –, Schlüter decides to take on Kaya’s appointment. He strives to gain an understanding of Turkish law, culture and people. But being confronted with the case of Heyder Cengi drives him into a moral conflict. A genocide, committed decades ago, casts its shadows wide across the borders and onto Northern Germany …