Traude (Monica Bleibtreu), an elderly music teacher who gives piano lessons to prisoners, finds an unexpected prodigy in Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung), a brooding young inmate, and devotes herself to developing Jenny's talent in the little time they have together. But while Traude teaches Jenny valuable lessons about music, Jenny herself inspires Traude to examine her own past and the meaning of her life -- and what might have passed her by.