In an uptight, straight-laced German family, Aunt Gunhild is a loose cannon; a black sheep of whom the others disapprove. The young girl's parents certainly do, and their lips draw into lines whenever Aunt Gunhild comes to visit. The girl is curious, however — she likes to 'steal' pieces of her family's past, and she often asks her grandparents and parents for stories and history. One Christmas, Aunt Gunhild comes to stay for a time, which thrills the young girl. Aunt Gunhild smokes cigarettes and gives her presents and money, but the girl is never able to get her alone without her parents in the room to ask her for more stories. One day, after Aunt Gunhild causes a scene by running through the house topless, she and the young girl spend time alone together on the balcony. Aunt Gunhild asks her about her love life and her dreams for the future, which scares the girl, who feels unprepared to grow up. When she asks Aunt Gunhild about herself, she realizes that her aunt is emotionally broken, and that "her past had been stolen a long time ago." After Aunt Gunhild moves out, the girl finds that she is missing a few small items, and her mother tells her that they think Aunt Gunhild had stolen things from them, and that she was a kleptomaniac. The next year, the Berlin Wall comes down and the girl's parents cry about their past. The girl thinks about how important it is to write down history, as everything is liquid.