A wild family tale: 15-year-old Mareike lives with her mother Jutta (43), her sister Franca (9), her brother Tim (6) and some chickens in a suburb of Mannheim. Jutta’s job as a detective at the local department store doesn’t pay much, so the family is always a little short of money. Mareike’s ambitious plans to become a model and to participate in an expensive training are therefore problematic. And momentarily Mareike is rather chubby and doesn’t really look like the classical beauty. But nevertheless she is prepared to go to any length to have her way and is full of ideas. Jutta hasn’t overcome the death of her husband yet, nor have the children. Now she tries to keep her beginning love affair to her colleague Winnie a secret, but doesn’t really feel happy about it. Mareike attempts to earn money for her model “education”, and jobs around at the weekly market to prove to her mother how serious she is. There she meets Samir, a German-Arabian boy who Mareike immediately falls in love with. To impress him Mareike signs up for a belly dancing class, distrustfully watched by Jutta, who is nerved by her daughter’s body fixation. But dancing gives Mareike a sudden boost of confidence and a lust for life, which Jutta must notice positively. And then suddenly Mareikes hair starts to fall out - a shock. An autoimmune disorder is diagnosed. There is no cure. Mareike’s world is shattered…