Zischke is a fifteen-year-old budding cartoonist, left to fend for himself in Berlin after his mother runs off to the States with her American G.I. boyfriend. Desperate to leave the city, he sees his opportunity in two forged passports which he stumbles upon. The documents lead him into the world of Berlin's other "homeless" individuals, its many illegal aliens-in particular, two Lebanese fugitives on the run from immigration officials, and their sister, an actress in Berlin. Around these characters, Martin Theo Krieger weaves a witty and poetic narrative, drawing on the exigencies of life for those for whom the big city offers no terra firma. In Krieger's debut feature, shot in black-and-white, "contemporary West Berlin is seen beyond the usual touristy postwar attractions as a gritty urban center coping with petty corruption, aliens and alienated youth" (Variety).