Sven arrives in Auschwitz to fulfill his civilian service. One of his duties is to look after the concentration camp survivor Krzeminski, a stubborn old man who treats the young German with a mixture of arrogance and impatience. Luckily the budding relationship with the interpreter Ania makes Sven’s everyday life more bearable – until Sven begins to see how inextricably linked the past and the present are in Auschwitz, today’s Oswiecim.