Ida, nearly 16, is an unremarkable teenager. Skinny, lanky, pale. What is more remarkable: she plays the double bass. With the massive case on her back, she nearly disappears. But when she starts playing, Ida surprises us with her power and intensity.
Her single mother Fanny calls it a “strange hobby” and is worried about Ida’s spine. Passing the Young Philharmonic Orchestra audition, Ida meets Johannes, the conductor. In him, she finds a soul mate who allows her to escape her mediocre life at home. Ida falls in love with the 40-year-old man.
When he responds to her discreet advances by spending a night with her, Ida is on cloud nine. Until she finds out that Johannes has started a passionate love affair with her mother.
A subtle fight between the two women begins, complicated by the shocking news that Ida is pregnant. She will not tell Fanny who the baby’s father is. Instead, Ida is determined to step out of her mother’s shadow, win Johannes for herself and start a small family on her own.