Having been raised as a devout Catholic in a small, provincial Austrian town in the late 60s, Johanna becomes Hanna when she learns from her grandmother that she is actually Jewish. While Hanna's mother - still traumatized by her harrowing experience during the war - has done all she could to keep the family's Jewish origin a secret, Hanna defies the town people's dormant yet strongly felt anti-Semitism and celebrates her new identity.
Ruth Mader's fascinating, restrained dystopian drama envisages a society where everyone is happy and fulfilled - just as long as they follow the rules. In the near-future, a state of perfect capitalism is sustained by a social class of high achievers. They live cheerfully, their lives the exemplar of exacting efficiency.
When one of them questions his situation, he comes to the attention of Life Guidance, an agency dedicated to the optimisation of humankind. So begins his painful realisation of the dark and perfidious system that supports his kind. But by rebelling against Life Guidance's advice, he risks everything.