A foreign woman in a burqa brings her young son to a Copenhagen police station to file a complaint against her abusive husband, but the translator assigned to her seems unwilling to convey the true meaning of her words. A tense, diamond-hard film about cultural isolation and bureaucratic ignorance.

Richard, an unemployed 55-year-old, arrives 3 minutes late for his appointment at a job centre. An advisor, stifled by the limits of the system she works in, has no choice but to penalise him for his tardiness. To avoid plunging further into destitution, Richard takes desperate measures.