Lene (Johanna Wokalek), a 22-year-old student living in Berlin, returns after five years of estrangement to her family's isolated alpine farm estate, Hierankl, in Bavaria for her father Lukas's (Josef Bierbichler) 60th birthday. Tensions immediately surface between Lene and her cold, distant mother Rosemarie (Barbara Sukowa), who is secretly carrying on an extramarital affair with Vincenz (Alexander Beyer), her son Paul's childhood friend. The dynamic shifts dramatically with the surprise arrival of Götz Hildebrand (Peter Simonischek), an old friend of Lukas and Rosemarie. Lene and Götz quickly begin a passionate sexual affair. During the birthday dinner, long-buried family grievances explode, leading Rosemarie to reveal that Götz is actually Lene's biological father from an affair years prior. Distraught, Lene turns back to Götz for comfort and sleeps with him again—entering a complex cycle of denial, incest, and family collapse.