Originally from Italy, Paolo Sanseviero (Alessandro Preziosi) is a Bionics professor at a German university and is on the verge of becoming head of a large research institute. Once a laid back, charming Italian, Paulo is now a stressed out German workaholic, who has a closer relationship to his robots than to his wife. Martina (Tanja Wedhorn) feels abandoned and the couple is heading straight towards a serious marital crisis. On top of that his 18-year-old son Florian (Patrick Mölleken) has just decided to jettison his father´s university plans to start a music career.
In the midst of all that, Paolo gets a call from his brother that their mother is about to die. He and Martina fly to Apulia together to say their good-byes. After arriving there, they realize that Mamma is hearty as ever, but the family had to find a way to get Paolo back to Italy after 20 years because they urgently need his signature to sell their olive plantation.
Together with Martina he decides to stay in Italy a little bit longer to find out what all of this is about, and how to save the family´s livelihood. Paolo painfully discovers that Italy is not Germany, but the same Italy he ran away from years before. Before long though, he rediscovers his playful and open “Italian side” which brings back the long gone sensuality between him and Martina. While rediscovering himself and finding a way back to his marriage, the past catches up to him and he is forced to confront the real and painful reason for fleeing Italy – and decide where his heart wants him to be.