Twenty-five-year-old electrician Thomas Taenzer tries to escape his failed marriage, unfinished college degree, and the confines of everyday life by taking a job in the Algerian desert. But there too, he encounters conflict at work and in his affair with Doris, a married woman who becomes pregnant with his child. When he discovers that his father is seriously ill, he returns to Germany, only to realize that he doesn't truly belong in either community.