The village of Umbach in central Hesse on a summer afternoon. The power goes out and most people initially believe it to be a temporary glitch. It quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary event: batteries and rechargeable batteries are also no longer working, and a nightmare scenario unfolds. The supply of food and drinking water collapses, and communication networks are down.
Malte tries to get his family and village through the crisis and quickly realizes that he has to choose between stomach and morals. Jutta is on a 767 when the power goes out. Simone is stuck in Hamburg after the blackout and has no way of contacting her family in central Hesse. She sets out on foot on the 400-kilometer-long and dangerous journey home. Florian is monitoring the heart-lung machine during heart surgery when the power grid and emergency power systems in the hospital fail. Lukas is in a shopping center in Wetzlar and witnesses a major traffic accident. Laura quickly realizes that she cannot cope with the sudden loss of her smartphone. When will help come from outside? Is there even an “outside”?
Our modern, civilized society seems to be as firmly established as one could wish for. However, a few days of an unexplained nationwide power outage are enough to tear this wafer-thin veil apart. Things that were previously taken for granted quickly become a dangerous adventure.