When the Albanian Swiss LULE (36) stands behind the bar in the "Zanzibar", the old Basel harbor bar fills with positive energy. Many of her regulars - including border police officers, dock workers and sailors - come here just to flirt with her, joke with her or pour out their hearts to her. But nobody knows much about the excellent listener - not even GREG (53), the jovial owner of the bar, who took her in after she fled Kosovo and soon married her.

When 17-year-old KADRI appears in front of her bar one day, the fragile balance of Lule's life is thrown into disarray. The lanky youth is her son. Without revealing her secret, Lule hires the unsuspecting boy as a kitchen helper.