A young businesswoman gets in touch with her taste for cutthroat corporate tactics by slowly seducing her inner demons in writer/director Christian Petzold's free-flowing dramatic thriller. Immediately accosted by her ex-husband, Ben (Hinnerk Schönemann), upon returning to her hometown of Wittenberg, Yella Fichte (Nina Hoss) blows off her former spouse before informing her father that she has landed a lucrative accounting position in Hanover. When Ben subsequently offers Yella a ride to the airport, she reluctantly accepts but immediately realizes her mistake when he lashes out at her in an angry tirade before driving the car into the River Elbe.

Just barely managing to escape from the car before her lungs fill with water, Yella swims to the shore and catches the first train to Hanover. As it turns out, Yella's new boss (Michael Wittenborn) has just been fired, yet after rejecting his thinly veiled advances the job-seeking woman seems to experience a stroke of luck when she makes the acquaintance of roving venture capitalist Philipp (Devid Striesow). Later, after Yella accompanies cold and calculating businessman Philipp to an important meeting, the relationship between the pair quickly turns personal.