13-year-old Christiane Felscherinow lives with her mother, younger sister, and her pet cat in their small apartment in an unkempt multi-storey, concrete social-housing building in a dull neighbourhood on the outskirts of West Berlin. She is tired of living there and is a huge fan of David Bowie. She hears of SOUND, a new trending nightclub in the city's centre. Although she is not old enough to get in, she dresses up in high heels and make up, and asks a popular school friend, Kessi, who goes there regularly, to take her. Kessi also provides her with pills. At the club, she meets a boy named Detlev, who is a little older than she is and is part of a clique where everybody experiments with various types of drugs. The next morning, Christiane and Kessi are waiting for the subway when Kessi's mother sees them and angrily berates Kessi, grabbing her by the arm and telling Christiane to stay away from her daughter.