The film tells the story of the Baumanns family, who live in Niersdorf, a town on the Lower Rhine that will give way to lignite mining in a few years. Since her husband's death, Marita Baumanns has been running the local, family-owned bakery there together with her brother-in-law Klaus, his wife Irene and their daughter Natalie. The Baumanns want to stay in Niersdorf as long as they can - "until the excavator comes". But the cracks that are spreading through the village community because of the impending resettlement initially reach the business and ultimately the seemingly stable family structure of the Baumanns.