Thirty-seven-year-old Michael Grothe is a German teacher at a bog standard secondary school in Berlin. His job is no easy task. But Grothe loves his work and is a committed teacher – so committed, in fact, that his private life suffers as a result. After a failed marriage, his burgeoning relationship with his colleague Lisa Kranz hasn’t got a chance against the passion Grothe puts into his role as a teacher. His class means everything to him; one difficult pupil named Nico is particularly close to his heart. Grothe refuses to give up Nico as a bad job and is determined to encourage him.