Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.), a hapless busker in Berlin, falls for a prostitute (Eva Mattes) who's in trouble with local thugs. With nothing to lose, the new couple decide to emigrate to the United States with their neighbor Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz), whose American nephew lives in rural Wisconsin. But after a customs agent confiscates his cherished pet bird, Beo, Stroszek begins a downward spiral into culture shock and surreality as he experiences the dark underbelly of the American dream.