"A rickety car came down the street. It drove slowly towards our house and turned into the garage driveway. One minute the light blue Lada Niva stood with running engine in front of our garage, then the engine was switched off. The driver's door opened, Tschick got out. He put both elbows on the roof of the car and watched me water the lawn. Ah , he said, and then he said nothing for a long time. Is this fun? " Mother in rehab, father with assistant on business trip: Maik Klingenberg will spend the big holidays alone at the pool of his parents' villa. But then Tschick shows up. Tschick, actually Andrej Tschichatschow, comes from one of the Asi skyscrapers in Hellersdorf, somehow made it from special school to grammar school and yet he doesn't exactly look like a prime example of integration. He also has a stolen car at hand. And with this begins a journey without map and compass through the summer-glowing German province, as unforgettable as the river journey of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.