The hairdresser

Her East Germany no longer exists. Her husband, her job, her house in the countryside are all gone. Unemployed hairdresser Kathi König lives with her daughter Julia in a prefabricated housing estate in Berlin-Marzahn. She wants to work, but she is not allowed to. A seemingly secure new position in a hair salon at a large shopping center is denied to her. Because Kathi is overweight – very overweight – and therefore "not aesthetic," according to the salon manager, Mrs. Krieger.

However, the determined Kathi is not so easily dismissed. In an empty Asian snack bar next to the Krieger salon, she plans to open her own hairdressing shop. This sparks a battle against authorities, banks, and consultants. On her long journey toward the happiness she hopes for, she encounters various people, including the attractive hairdresser Silke, the dubious smuggler Joe, and the lovable Vietnamese Tien.