When her lesbian affair with Regine hits the rocks, Anna needs to escape her job as a photographer, her home, her friends and everything that reminds her of the past and so she aims a borrowed Volkswagen van for the south of France and steps on the gas pedal. As she travels, her daydreams take on the force of reality as she fantazises about the past with Regine, yet the change in color tonalities of her imaginings and other camera tricks contrast her make-believe world with the scenic countryside and picturesque villages she passes on her way. As the road unspools before her like a role of film, images from her mind's storehouse of reels flash by - and the parallels between traveling away and mentally going back become clearer, for as the title suggests, she has to "depart to arrive."

1933年，犹太人梅辛因不堪纳粹迫害，从德国逃到法国，在法国巴黎，她认识了女孩费丽安，并成为了好朋友