The film takes place in West Germany an unspecified number of months after the
Munich Massacre. Emmi, a 60-year-old window cleaner and widow, enters a bar, driven in by the rain and wanting to listen to the music being played inside. The barmaid, Barbara, goads Ali, a Moroccan
Gastarbeiter (guest worker) in his late thirties, to ask Emmi to dance. She accepts. They develop a friendship and Ali ends up staying overnight at Emmi's apartment. After more interaction, their connection deepens and Ali moves in. Eager to share her happiness, Emmi tells her daughter, Krista, and son-in-law, Eugen. Eugen scoffs and says Emmi has lost her mind, while Krista dismisses it as a folly fueled by years of widowhood. Their relationship is threatened when the landlord's son, who has been sent on the assumption that Emmi has taken in a lodger, tells Emmi that subletting is against Emmi's tenancy agreement, and that Ali must leave within a day. Fearful of losing Ali, Emmi says she and Ali are planning to marry. After the landlord's son apologises for the misapprehension and leaves, Emmi speaks to Ali and apologises for having invented the idea of her marrying him, but is surprised when Ali says it is an excellent idea. The film then shows them leaving civil court, married. Their marriage is looked upon unfavorably by their neighbors and shopkeepers. Emmi's colleagues shun her, and Ali faces discrimination at every turn. When Emmi invites her three children and son-in-law to meet Ali, they openly reject him. One of Emmi's sons smashes her TV set in anger and the other declares she must have lost her mind, calling her a "whore". Before they leave Emmi's apartment, Krista calls it a "pigsty". Emmi's sadness about this rejection fades as her optimism resurfaces and she decides that she and Ali should take a holiday together to escape the discrimination, convinced that upon their return, they will have been missed and be welcomed back. Upon their return, they face less discrimination, but only because their neighbours and shopkeepers see the gain in treating them better, not because they have outgrown their prejudices. Wanting to get back with her old friends after their apparent renewed respect, Emmi begins to neglect Ali and adopt some of their attitudes toward him. She becomes stricter, ordering him to do more things. When co-workers visit and remark on how clean he is and admire his muscles, she shows him off like an object. This causes Ali to leave, which Emmi explains to her friends as moodiness and a "foreigner mentality". Ali seeks comfort in Barbara, with whom it is suggested he had a relationship before meeting Emmi. Ali returns to Barbara another day, spending the night with her. Emmi visits Ali at work, where he pretends he doesn't know her; his workmates make fun of her age, calling her his "Moroccan grandmother". Ali does not intervene. When it seems the relationship is beyond repair, Emmi goes back to the bar where they first met. She has Barbara play the same song on the jukebox that led to their dance at the film's beginning. Dancing together, Emmi says she knows she is old and that he is free to come and go, but that when they are together, they must be kind to each other. Ali agrees and they declare their love. Ali then collapses from a burst
stomach ulcer and is taken to the hospital with Emmi at his side. A doctor tells her the illness is common among foreign workers because of the stress they face. He explains that Ali will undergo surgery to remove the ulcer, but will probably be back in six months with another. Emmi says she will do everything in her power to prevent that from happening. The film ends with her holding Ali's hand. ==Cast==