Back to Life?

The engine roared, the adrenaline pumped, and I felt invincible. Then came the light – glaring, wrong, too close. A blow, an impact, and suddenly there was only silence. When I woke up in the hospital, they said my legs were dead. From the sixth thoracic vertebra: nothing. No pain, no feeling, just emptiness. One year later, I sit in a wheelchair, staring holes in the wall. The days are the same, meaningless. Friends are gone, sports are gone – I'm gone. Today some stranger comes, paid to keep me company. Ridiculous.

Asher Ritter and Alex Baum know each other from high school, where Asher, as a sporty, self-confident young man, often became a bully – especially towards Alex, who was rather reserved. After school they lost contact, and no one knows exactly how the other is today. Due to a serious motorcycle accident, Asher has been paraplegic for a year and lives in isolation. The parents of both families are strictly religious and know each other from the Bible study group. Asher's parents hire Alex for payment to spend time with Asher and keep him busy. Neither Asher nor Alex know what awaits them at the reunion. Asher meets Alex with rejection, while Alex is determined not to give up.

Berlin, a vibrant metropolis full of culture, diversity and energy, forms the background of the story. The city pulsates with life, from bustling streets to universities and a dynamic nightlife – a place where many paths cross. In this world lives Asher Ritter, whose everyday life has been drastically limited by a serious accident: isolation in his apartment, marked by silence and standstill. Alex Baum comes from a similarly strictly religious family, but lives independently and goes his own way. He regularly attends church, but is not active in additional Bible circles. A tattoo with rose vines runs across his entire arm, bearing the inscription from "The Little Prince": "One sees clearly only with the heart, what is essential is invisible to the eye." These contrasts between movement and standstill, faith and doubt, closeness and distance shape the environment and the conflict of the story.

The central goal of the story is the personal development of Asher Ritter, who, after a serious accident with paraplegia, has to rediscover not only his physical but also his emotional identity. Through the encounter with Alex Baum, an authentic love story develops that deals intensively with the physical and psychological challenges of paralysis. Themes such as trust, self-acceptance, intimacy despite physical limitations, and guilt and forgiveness are central. The different religious backgrounds of the families and their handling of faith and doubt shape the framework for the in-depth relationship and the personal development of the two. The goal is a realistic, emotional story about love, healing and a new beginning despite great adversity.