Michael Hartung, owner of a hopelessly over-indebted video store, has bet on the wrong horse his entire life. When an ambitious journalist confronts him with the results of his research, everything changes for the charmingly melancholic Micha. He is said to have organized the largest mass escape from East Germany many years ago while working as an employee of the Reichsbahn. Stasi files confirm the case. He was apparently even imprisoned, then sent to work in the brown coal open pit mine. Tempted by a lucrative fee, Micha confirms the story, even though only fragments of it are true.