A van drives through the night. An accident on a country road, the van slams head-on into a car. Wedged together the two vehicles stand motionless. People hidden beneath the cargo space. SAVA, who has paid the smugglers a large sum of money to be brought to Spain, is among them and quickly leaves the scene of the accident. SAVA is stranded in Austria. Feeling cheated by the smugglers, he sets out to find them and get his money back because SAVA's goal is still to get to Spain.

Along the way he encounters people who are full of anger or longing or who harbor a deep secret. Some with money, other with debts. People with and without illusions. People who distract SAVA from his goal and those who might profit from him staying here. He meets the restorer MAGDALENA who is immersed in the task of removing patina from the frescoes of a forgotten church somewhere in the middle of nowhere. She hopes to find peace here and let the wounds of her life heal. MAGDALENA is searching for something that remains her secret for a long time. At night she picks up men on the street, takes them back to her apartment, and pays them for their services. It is easy to get the wrong idea, and spying on her, her ex-husband ALBERT does.

ALBERT is a police officer who lives in the illusion that his ex-wife is still his wife, if only MAGDALENA would come back to him. His job is to disclose sham marriages and he is as dedicated to this task as if it were his calling in life. He is painstaking, he is perfidious, he is perfect, and no one can stand up to his interrogations. He too is searching for something in particular: in his interrogations he is looking for the words he needs to win MAGDALENA back.

SAVA and MAGDALENA will meet in the church. They will work side by side, they will feel desire, they will make love without exchanging a single word. ALBERT will learn of this love affair, he will find the church but will only be able to vent his speechlessness in fury.

Meanwhile, hovering high above the rooftops is GABRIEL, a pathological gambler, a fallen angel, who in an attempt to take fate into his own hands and pay back his debts becomes fate.