This tragic love story relates ten decisive years (1796 - 1806) in the life of the great German poet Friedrich Hölderlin—played by Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others). In order to support himself, Hölderlin takes a job as the live-in tutor to the four children of the wealthy Frankfurt banker, Gontard. It doesn't take long for him to fall madly in life with Susette, his employer’s wife. Ordinary family life is obstructed even further by news from the French Revolution.