Bettina (Claudia Michelsen) is arrested in 1985 for having illegal contacts with the West and brought before the young Stasi officer Jan (Devid Striesow) for questioning. For eight months they see each other almost every day during the interrogations, and during this time the unthinkable happens: they fall in love. They communicate with just a few words and gestures. During the interrogations, Bettina repeatedly writes the numbers 11 and 12 in a pad – “You are beautiful” has 11 letters, 12 means: “I love you”.

Then they are separated: Bettina is sentenced and sent to Hoheneck prison for three years before being deported to the West. Jan becomes a major shortly before the end of the GDR. Twelve years later, Bettina, who now guides visitors through the former Stasi prison that has been converted into a memorial, tracks down her interrogator from back then. Jan – married and father of a daughter – now works as an accountant for a logistics company. When the two meet again, their love is back …