Carl Friedrich Gauss and Alexander von Humboldt are not satisfied with what they are, but fight obsessively and inspired for knowledge, one in the jungle, the other at their desks. Geniuses become people when they encounter love. Gauss can give in to his feelings – unlike Humboldt, who only allows this in his encounter with Gauss. Their meeting at the naturalists' congress seems to escalate into a catastrophe, but leads to a liberation.