Dark clouds loom over the Bavarian district of Schwandorf, which has been hit hard by the industrial crisis. The year is 1981, and hundreds of miners have been left without jobs, fearing evictions and foreclosures. Instead of solutions, people are offered platitudes by their district's official administrator, Hans Schuierer (Johannes Zeiler). Faced with the biggest challenge of his career, this provincial politician is stumbling in the dark.