83-year-old Konraad is the patriarch of a crumbling family. Expressing his wish to end his life inspires his daughter Maria to simply ignore it in the face of problems with her own daughters, Sabine ? trapped in an unhappy marriage ? and Eva ? dealing with the after-effects of an abortion. Only Maria’s husband Ernst attempts to honor Konraad’s request, driving a wedge even deeper between him and his wife. With everyone in the family preoccupied by their own agendas, the search for a connection ? a tie that binds ? becomes the central goal. Konraad’s painful choice becomes a burden each must bear, as well as a benchmark against which each will measure his or her own existence as part of a larger unit yet completely alone. Leopold refrains from judgment moralizing, instead allowing each character to speak for him- or herself and their isolation.