Coming home

Jochen and Anja have worked hard for the new house into which they and their teenage son Oliver have just moved. They could even lodge Jochen’s widowed father Richard, although it’s the last thing Jochen would want. Bullied by his dominating father in his childhood, Jochen maintains a rather distant relationship with him. When Richard accidentally runs into a car one day, it becomes clear to his family that he is gradually losing his mind and can no longer live alone. It is Anja who insists on taking him into their home, and even Oliver finds his granddad’s forgetfulness cool. But since Alzheimer’s disease is not curable, Richard’s condition worsens with each passing day. Anja, who quits her job to take care of Richard, is pushed to her limits by the old man’s willfulness and refusal to be helped. Jochen requests day-care assistance from his insurance, but is turned down. His own exhaustion is adversely affecting his work and his relations with Anja and Oliver, who finds it increasingly difficult to put up with Richard. Finally, when Richard sets fire to the house, Anja moves out. Jochen is shattered, torn between a desire to protect the father he has come to love - and the dark wish that Richard would simply disappear...