"Schwitzkasten"(Sweatbox) is a slightly run-down Berlin sauna, a sister-and-brother operation that provides stressed-out Berliners with an oasis of calm amidst the hurly-burly of big city life. With the recession in full swing, five Schwitzkasten regulars - Toni(Andreas Schmidt), Karin(Steffi Kühnert), Dani(Esther Zimmering), Monika(Laura Tonke) and Norbert(Edgar Selge) - decide to meet each Thursday at the sauna to hash over recent developments in their lives. Toni has been unemployed for a long time and now he discovers that he is impotent as well. Karin's new business is causing her to alienate her compadres - she won't stop trying to sell them things. The stuck-up stewardess Dani is heading for a fall - and the unemployment line - while Monika is grappling with whether to marry or not. Norbert, a head-in-the-sand academic, writes the speeches for his wife, a liberal member of parliament, and is learning about the realities faced by the others.