Sam, a black, East German, HIV-positive singer-writer, sings his heart out in the sound­ proof sterility of the recording studio. Through the sturm und drang, his engineer, like the film, looks on dispassionately. _Return to Go! _follows its flawed, sometimes difficult, characters through the commonplace dra­mas that make up their misfit lives.

When Sam's relationship with boyfriend Manne goes haywire, he seeks comfort with best friend Sebastian, a Barbra Streisand imperson­ator and dancing TV-commercial tomato. When Manne is admitted to the hospital, Sam goes immediately to his side, and Sebastian moves in to care for Sam. Each takes a lover — Rainer, a male nurse and model, and Mike, a British painter. The four end up sharing a two-bedroom flat, and through casual infi­delities, booze, and cigarettes (this is a German film), the four drunkenly stumble their way into an alternative family, scraping by on borrowed money and the occasional paid gig. Life plainly unfolds with occasional magic and sporadic tragedy, lovers come and go, move in and die, but in the meantime they all find a way to make a home a safe haven where they find support for who they are and where they learn to love themselves and each other.