After many years in America working as a boat-builder, 37-year-old Felix Jung comes back to the village where he was born, on the banks of Lake Constance. His only relative still alive is an old aunt who has been running a small boat rental yard here for the last 40 years, just about managing to keep her head above water since her husband died. Felix left Lake Constance 10 years ago to seek his fortune abroad. And to a certain extent he has achieved success in both professional and personal spheres: he became engaged to the daughter of his boss in an east coast firm and was virtually adopted by the family. But now he has taken the courageous step of deciding to escape from the matrix of relationships there, which are becoming increasingly complex, and return to Germany.
Late one afternoon he comes across the lake on the ferry and runs into his old teacher Kuckuck, who owns the property next door to his aunt’s house. Kuckuck, who hardly recognizes Felix these days, tells him that his aunt is in hospital with circulation problems - and in fact, Felix has arrived just in time.