SYNOPSIS

Behind a mask of silence and aggression, eighteen-year-old Jakob hides a dark secret. Guilt and shame drive him to become a defensive outsider and to leave school before graduating. At home, Jakob‘s family is loving yet on edge, unable to face what happened in his past. Isolating him allows them to maintain a false sense of harmony. Meanwhile, his thirteen-year-old sister Mira, who still plays with toys, complains that sexual violence is being discussed at school more and more. Things change when Jakob starts a job not far from Vienna and encounters a world of hard labour and a male code. While the other workers shower naked, Jakob wears a T-shirt and underpants. This strange behaviour attracts the attention of the shift leader, Marius, who is more than thirty years Jakob’s senior. Jakob, afraid of making mistakes, reacts aggressively to Marius, who repeatedly provokes him. Depressed by the issue of sexual violence at school, Mira is increasingly aware that her childhood world no longer offers any refuge. At work, Jakob is increasingly drawn to Marius. But Jakob loses his cool when Marius provokes him with a prank. Marius is surprisingly empathetic, however, and the tension between them gives way to an unusual ease. They cook dinner together in Marius‘s apartment, and Jakob invites Marius to a family dinner the next day. Soon, Jakob finds words for what is bothering him. He reveals his involvement in a playful sexual encounter with a former male classmate, which became an assault. Jakon suspects his bond with Marius is shattered. The next day, Marius turns up at the family dinner. But the others are skeptical of the unusual bond between the two men. In a desperate move, Jakob finds himself on Marius’s doorstep at night, first acting playfully but quickly offering himself naked to him, searching for a second chance at a first time.