Tilda's days are strictly timed: studying, sitting at the supermarket checkout, looking after her little sister Ida - and on bad days, looking after her mother. The three of them live in the saddest house on Fröhlichstraße in a small town that Tilda hates. Her friends have long since left, living in Amsterdam or Berlin, only Tilda has stayed. Because someone has to be there for Ida, earn money, bear the responsibility. There are no fathers worth mentioning, the mother is an alcoholic. One day, however, things start to move: Tilda is offered a doctorate in Berlin, and there is a flash of a future that promises freedom. And Viktor shows up, the big brother of Ivan, with whom Tilda used to be friends. Viktor, who - just like her - always swims 22 lanes. But when Tilda almost believes that everything could be fine, the situation at home gets completely out of control.
22 Lanes' is a raw and at the same time tender story about the devastation of family life and how to find happiness between responsibility and freedom.