Silver Forest is a brutally realistic coming-of-age story, set in a small Swiss town in a bleak winter landscape. A group of boys struggle with their mounting anger with the mundane world, resulting in a string of escalating acts of violence. Deep in the forest they finally find a release for their aggression by joining a Nazi gang - only to discover the boundaries where harmless play turns into murder.

In October 1989, the part of the West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg called SO 36, had been largely shut off by the Wall from the rest of the city for 28 years. A lethargic sub-culture of students, artists, bohemians and barflys had flourished among crumbling buildings. Part of that microcosm is barkeeper Frank, semi-formally called 'Herr Lehmann' by friends and patrons. He hangs out drinking, sports utter disregard for anything beyond SO 36 and lazily pursues an affair with cook Katrin. His lifestyle is gradually disturbed, when his parents show up for a visit, things go awry with Katrin and his best friend Karl starts to act strange. Meanwhile, political turmoil mounts on the other side of the Wall.

Claude, a militant anarchist, is caught stealing and is shot by a policeman while fleeing the scene. Dodo, a hairdresser, is hit by one of the stray bullets. They meet in the realm of the dead and together they visit familiar places and their loved ones. By debating their past with each other, they become close and fall in love. Because of their feelings they get the chance to return to life for twelve hours in order to prove the depth love they share.

In the 1770s, Swiss farmer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi established a school for poor orphaned children in the Aargau. Up to total exhaustion he sacrificed himself for his pedagogical theories. Five years later, the project of the idealistic educator failed after bloody attacks of the French. In retrospect, the disappointed Pestalozzi experiences the last few months with "his" children.

After the death of his mother, a lonely farmer in rural Switzerland considers finally starting a family of his own. Eventually he pays for a bride from Thailand. The couple don't share a language, but being to know each other. However the village neighbors are suspicious of foreigners.