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Ursula Meier's debut feature is a darkly funny story of an oddball family living happily in an isolated house at the edge of an unfinished motorway. The parents go to great lengths to protect their family from the infernal noise and dangers that are presented when the road is finally opened. Their grumpy eldest daughter continues to don her bikini and languish in a deckchair despite the cars whizzing close by; the middle daughter studies the effect of the noxious fumes; and the youngest child sees it all initially as an adventure. As time goes by, the tone of the film shifts, with Meier introducing elements of melodrama and horror. This adds to the mystery of the story, which gives only vague hints as to what drives the family so determinedly to stay put in the face of such adversity.