Flame-haired Lola (Franka Potente) receives a frantic phone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a local criminal's errand boy who has just lost a bagful of cash belonging to his boss (Heino Ferch). If Lola can't replace the money and get it to Manni in 20 minutes, he's a dead man. Thinking through the alternatives, Lola quickly settles on a plan: to convince her bank-manager father (Heino Ferch) to give her the cash. Off she sprints, down the stairs and into the streets of Berlin, beginning a breathless race against the clock to save her lover. Director Tom Tykwer presents three versions of Lola's 20-minute run, each beginning the same way before small differences emerge that yield vastly different outcomes, not only for the main characters, but also for the people who cross Lola's path.