Hoffman (Bruno Ganz) is searching for his wife (Angela Winkler) at the youth center where she works. When a police raid turns into an armed struggle with revolutionaries, Hoffman is caught in the crossfire, and shot in the head. Once a promising bio-geneticist, Hoffman is now unable to move and barely able to remember the incident. While terrorists claim him as a hero, police frame him to justify shooting him. Hoffman must painstakingly piece together his memory to discover what really happened.