The widowed bookworm Hermann believes he has found the right person in the elegant literature lover Hanne - but not for life, but for his imminent death. After being diagnosed with cancer, the melancholy pensioner neither wants to fight nor languish like his beloved wife 30 years ago, but wants to resign in a self-determined manner - as long as he is still doing well. However, suicide or euthanasia are out of the question for Hermann, out of consideration for his single-parent daughter Claudia and his grandson Lenny, who have no idea about his serious illness. Through his acquaintance with the widow Hanne, whose well-to-do husband died shortly after their marriage, he had a surefire idea: he had to marry the "Black Widow", who, as a trained pharmacist, was very familiar with poison. In order to win Hanne's heart, the sometimes insensitive and know-it-all Hermann relies on a well-dosed mixture of imposture, understatement and charm. In this way he gets closer to the woman he is courting, but his goal is becoming more and more a possibility: through the romantic approach to his widow-to-be, life makes him happy again.