The father is a con artist - based on a true story. A father, mother, and three children in the Palatinate province of the 1980s: Car salesman Jürgen and his wife Jutta are in debt but happy. When suddenly a large sum of money appears, the family hastily emigrates to southern France. There, the three siblings live like in paradise, but the parents behave increasingly strangely - until a coincidence reveals that the father is a con artist. He has embezzled the money and already spent it when the noose tightens. At the last moment, the family flees from the authorities, and the chase through Europe continues. It starts as an adventure and turns into a nightmare: A novel like a road movie, both tragic and comedic at the same time.