A hot summer in 1959 in Bad Nauheim, a small town outside Frankfurt. In the midst of the German upheaval, the two teenagers Anna (17) and Heinz (18) grow up between two cultures - the traditional German small town on the one hand and the exciting "American way of life" on the other. For Bad Nauheim is enlivened by the adjacent Ray Barracks barracks, where thousands of U.S. soldiers are stationed. Anna, who helps out in her parents' pharmacy after school, always secretly drives medicines to the barracks. Heinz, on the other hand, makes acquaintance with the soldiers when he works late at night in his father's small inn.

While Anna and Heinz are imagining a future together after an evening at the movies, the small town is unexpectedly thrown into great turmoil: Elvis Presley, the King of Rock'n'Roll, moves into the barracks. Not only the town, but also Anna and Heinz are electrified and are inspired by this turbulent entry of the big wide world into the tranquil and conservative small town to make wild escape plans. But their lives don't let them go that easily - Heinz's parents need him, and he begins to doubt his goals. For Anna, on the other hand, the thought of staying is becoming increasingly unbearable, and a decision matures within her.

The small town has long since gone to sleep as Anna sits in an American van bound for Bremerhaven. Heinz is serving the last guests in the tavern when Elvis comes in and starts humming a song softly at the back table. "Muss I denn, muss I denn zum Städtele hinaus ..."