- Small town guy «Goalie» lands in prison for not ratting out his childhood friend Ueli to the police. After a year spent in jail, he heads back to his hometown Schummertal. He sets for a fresh start, but the old ghosts come back again. He finds no love lost around, except for the waitress Regula who seeks shelter at his place after leaving her violent partner. Goalie takes her to a short trip to Spain, but messes up with her when he finds out the truth behind his year spent in prison.—turlesque
- In Swiss rural Schummertal in the 80s, straightforward early-40-guy «Goalie» is still best friends with his childhood bud Ueli, after 30 years and more. The day Goalie lost his job for smoking pot, Ueli asks his friend to do a drug mule, a trip to France and back, for five thousand francs, two months wages. Ueli and Goalie were best friends since their soccer days in the schoolyard when they were little kids. They were not only best friends, but also the best scorers. Goalie had never been goalkeeper. He had been a striker, but nevertheless, he kept that nickname since his childhood. Goalie drives to France, gets the pack of drugs, comes back late at night, and as he parks the car, the police steps up and arrests him. At the interrogation by the police chief, Goalie doesn't rat out who sent him to get the drugs. He prefers going to jail for a year to ratting out his buddy. A year later, Goalie is back in his hometown and goes for a drink in his restaurant. He gets some help from Regula, the waitress he fancies, but finds no love lost with the owner Pesche. His buddy Ueli, who has gotten deeper into drugs and alcohol, drops in at Goalie's place and brings him the five grand. Later that day, the landlord comes around, asking for a year's rent. That's how Goalie gets rid of almost all of the money. Determined to set for a fresh start without drugs, Goalie finds a low-wage job and tries to keep in touch with Regula, with whom he starts to fall in love. He tells about it to Ueli's girl-friend, who is worried about Ueli's addiction and hopeful that Goalie can do something about it. The day after, Ueli lands in hospital after a breakdown with drugs and alcohol abuse. Goalie's advances to waitress Regula start to make her partner Budi nervous, but Regula is more and more intrigued by Goalie, to the disappointment of her partner. A day, Pesche seemingly finds rugs in the restaurant's toilets and reports to the police with the hint it must have been Goalie "again". He's taken to the police station and gets a restaurant ban. It reveals that Pesche and Budi had framed Goalie: thus, Budi feels he's gotten rid of his rival, and Pesche got rid of someone he wouldn't want to see in his restaurant. But Regula is still intrigued by Goalie. A late night, after too much booze, he passes by her house and rings her bell in the middle of the night. Budi smashes water on Goalie down from the balcony, who walks back home to bed. As Budi is asleep again, Regula takes the chance and secretly calls Goalie up, arranging a date. They meet at the rink and have conversation about Goalie's mysteries. She wants to know the reason behind his jail sentence and why he didn't blab. He doesn't like to tell, but makes clear he was the scapegoat, and in the end, it would have been worse for everyone if he had blabbed. She starts questioning his friendships, but he doesn't want to hear. A night, Regula drops in at Goalie's place, scars and blows in her face, and she tells she's been beaten by Budi. Her partner shows up the day after, trying to convince her to forgive him, unsuccessfully. Stofer, another of Goalie's old friends, tells him at the restaurant of having inherited a small villa in Spain and offers him to have some holidays there for a couple of days. Goalie sets for the short trip together with Regula despite losing his new job for this absence without leave. In Spain, Goalie succumbs to his old drinking habits and messes it up with Regula. Once, he wouldn't come back home because he landed in a bar, and the other day he is too drunk to have dinner with her. The next day, he learns that the small old villa wasn't inherited, but his friend Stofer had bought it. There, he realizes that he had been framed that day he drove to France, while Pesche, Stofer and Ueli landed some big drug deals and made a lot of money. Goalie goes to meet Balsiger, another childhood acquaintance who became accountant and obviously must know about all business in town, to ask for confirmation about the ownership of the house and backgrounds about the sudden wealth of his do-no-good friends. Balsiger happens to be the reason behind Goalie's nickname. When they were kids, Balsiger was the worst of all soccer playing kids, and often was put into the goal because nobody could find any other use for him. One day, he was so bad as goalkeeper that the kids were seeking him to beat him up. There, Goalie-kid said that he was the goalie, to make sure poor small fragile Balsiger would escape the beating. Then he goes to the restaurant and confronts Pesche, Stofer and Ueli with his findings. Ueli admits they framed him because they knew he wouldn't rat him out. Pesche, still hostile to Goalie, offers him a reparation, but Goalie declines, saying "one's still got a bit of pride", and moves on, leaving Ueli, his friendship and the whole small-town place behind him. He sees Regula once again and tells her he'd spruce up his life, move to Bern and asks her to join him once he's found a job.
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