It premiered in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival,[1] where Köhler won the Silver Bear for Best Director.

[2] Ebbo Velten works in Cameroon in a sleeping sickness aid project living with his wife, Vera.

Their daughter, Helen, usually attending a boarding school in Wetzlar, Germany, visits them.

Three years later, World Health Organization inspector Alex Nzila visits to assess the programme.

He is woken by a gunshot; the guide returns without Velten, takes the inspector to the river and leaves.