It is about the childhood of seven-year-old Joachim, who lives with his family in a villa on the grounds of a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. Joachim's father is the director of the clinic. Among the patients, Joachim and his father feel most at home. The patients are their friends. They can do without the company of the "others", the "normals". Joachim's mother, however, feels differently. She longs for a more sophisticated environment and mourns her youthful adventures in Italy. Only gradually does Joachim realise that his family idyll is a fragile construct. The film follows the protagonist Joachim at the ages of seven, 16 and finally 25. Based on the novel of the same name by Joachim Meyerhoff.