Clemens has invited his single friends over to dinner on Christmas Eve, hoping to ward off the Yuletide doldrums with good company. At first everything goes off as planned, relaxed and convival. But then Manny unexpectedly appears, famous for his acid tongue, and things get hopping. The cozy evening turns into a slugfest of revelations. World-views and life-projects collide. No topic ist sacred: the meaning of life, existential delusion, self-fulfilment, marriage, family, friendship, loneliness and, of course, the all-pervasive indifference to the world's miseries.

The evening can't proceed without hurt feelings. Ilka and Gisela soon flee the scene in frustration: some of the friends' comments got too close for comfort.

Even Jürgen takes a walk to let off steam. Once the final guests have left earlier than planned, another unexpected visitor crops up: Kathrin, whom we already met on the telephone at the beginning of the play. She has escaped her insufferably wholesome family and hopes to give her Christmas Eve a happy turn in her circle of friends. Wielding her philosophy of life - that happiness consists of moments of close contact between initimate friends - she tries to distract Clemens from his disappointment at his alternative Christmas...