By an unlikely twist of fate, reporter Phil Winter finds himself stuck with a little girl, Alice, searching the cities of Germany for her grandmother, whose name and address Alice can't remember. The only clue they have is a photograph of her grandmother's front door with no house number and no one in the shot. The film's theme closely foreshadows Wenders' later film Paris Texas. The scenario of a young girl and a writer thrown together was inspired by his long time collaborator Peter Handke's experience as a single parent[1]. The influence also of Short Letter, Long Farewell, Handke's 1972 novel, featuring an alienated German-speaker travelling across the United States, can be inferred from the film's use of clips from John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln, itself heavily referenced in the novel.
