When Jakob and Marius fall in love in the 1980s, Germany is under the rule of the ridiculed Helmut Kohl; in the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev is trying to bring about political change with Perestroika and Glasnost. Meanwhile, in the gay scene, it is the era of mustachioed leather men, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and unrestrained promiscuity, until suddenly and unexpectedly a deadly epidemic changes everything: AIDS. More than twenty years later, Jakob's relationship with his friend Arne is on the verge of falling apart: after an argument in which Arne accuses Jakob of not having processed Marius's death, he leaves their shared apartment and disappears from Jakob's life. Thus, Jakob embarks on a quest for answers. Unexpected help comes from 23-year-old Philip, who shows him that there are different ways to cope with a positive test result in the new millennium.