Since his parents' divorce, 16-year-old Ralf is left to fend for himself. When the fall break comes, his mother goes in vacation with her present lover. Again, Ralf is left alone, but with the household's money and his fantasies of danger and adventure. He breaks into a neighboring house where the girl he's fallen in love with lives. But he is caught on the act by old Meurer who has been charged by the girl's family to look after the house in their absence. Ralf panics. He overpowers the old man and ties him up. This explosive situation is the highest point in Ralf's life to date, which, in this neighbourhood where he grew up, seemed to have remained quite monotonous - but not anymore. He finds an enemy in the old man who tries all means to save his neck.