Lichter is an episodic tale from Hans-Christian Schmid about the life on the border between Germany and Poland. The film sheds light on the everyday stories of escape and desperateness.

Perry Ashwell is a self-satisfied child psychologist who takes his colleagues and wife somewhat for granted. So confident is he of his position that he introduces rich attractive painter Octavio Quaglini to his office and home. Quaglini is no respecter of convention, and April Ashwell is extremely attractive.

A taxi driver from Alleppey who always tries to keep his wife happy by taking her to very materialistic trips. She becomes more greedy and in order to keep her happy, he knowingly or unknowingly undertakes few tasks that gets him trapped.

Sunny, a priest, comes to know that Vavachan is running an old age home with vile intentions. He wants the corpses of the inmates for the medical college run by his son. Sunny decides to expose this.

When Martin, a former GDR citizen, is released from jail, he lately becomes confronted with the consequences of the German re-unification.

After his mother's death, 17-year-old Sven moves in with his dad Achim, a taxi driver, who had divorced his mother several years earlier. It is not easy for Achim to get used to an adolescent around the house, especially since Sven hardly speaks to him. But Sven does well in school, and Achim hopes that time will bring them closer together. It is Achim's girlfriend Julia who first senses that something is wrong with Sven. Why, she wonders, does he always hang around with young boys? Why does not he have any friends his own age? She suspects that he is gay. The truth, however, is somewhat more nuanced - and chilling: Sven has pedophile tendencies. Proof is soon found on videos that shock and sicken Achim. Sven himself is shattered and regrets his actions. Julia suggests therapy, but Achim is convinced that he and Sven can handle this together. But he is wrong. Though Sven practically begs his father to lock him up in his room, Achim has confidence in his son.

A desperate husband chases a bus full of beautiful women headed for Paris, France.

A henpecked housewife ekes out a meager existence, surrounded by a host of colorful characters: her ungrateful husband, her delinquent sons, her headstrong mother-in-law, and her sex worker neighbor, among others.

A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.

Boothnath vows to redeem himself when spirits tease him, and searches for a child to terrify. He befriends Akhrot, a slum kid, and helps him take on the country's most powerful politician.

Lorna is a young Albanian woman in a marriage of convenience with Claudy, a heroin addict. Just as Lorna is about to be granted Belgian citizenship, Claudy finds the strength to detox; this presents a problem not only for Lorna, but for the criminal who brokered the deal.

A New York City beautician is mistakenly hired as the school teacher for the children of the president of a small Eastern European country.