Lina Beckmann

A woman discovers the man she has lived with for years is not who she thought he was...

Growing up on the grounds of one of Germany's largest psychiatric hospitals is somehow - different. For Joachim, the director's youngest son, the patients are like family. They are also much nicer to him than his two older brothers, who drive him into fits of rage. His mother, painting watercolors, longs for Italian summer nights instead of constant German rain, while his father secretly, but not discreetly enough, goes his own way. But while Joachim slowly grows up, his world, not only through the loss of his first love, gets more and more cracks...

Luisa works as a couples therapist and has a loveless relationship with her husband Richard, but at the same time she is having an affair with Richard's boss Leopold. As everything slowly threatens to get out of hand, she wakes up one morning to find a second Luisa next to her, who looks just like her but, unlike the original, is somewhat naive and completely relaxed. Luisa christens her doppelganger Ann. At first, everything seems perfect, because while Ann lives out her needs and stays with Richard, Luisa can finally spend more time with Leopold. But as Richard slowly takes a liking to Ann, Luisa realizes that she is not happy with the new situation either. A serious conflict begins to brew between the two halves of her personality...

Hajo Siewers lives with his wife Vera and his teenage son Marvin in a residential area for single family homes. He has a tendency to stretch the limits between truth and lies. One day, he might have gone too far and risks to lose everything he loves.

Under the auspicious name "Magical Mystery" the Berlin techno label BummBumm Records wants to go on a rave tour. Karl Schmidt aka Charly himself was once an aspiring artist on the scene, until he retired after a nervous breakdown five years ago. Since then he lives in a supervised withdrawal WG in Hamburg. Now, as a driver and custodian for the party-loving DJs and their producers, he becomes part of "Magical Mystery", trying to lead a self-determined life after years of patronizing and well-intentioned advice.

In the middle of his life, Paul Gompitz from Rostock makes the decision to travel to Syracuse in Sicily. He is driven to follow in the footsteps of the poet Johann Gottlieb Seume. But: Paul lives in the GDR, behind the most annoying border in the world. His plan is impossible by legal means. So he has to prepare an escape.

Ada Hänselmann presents her debut novel. However, the numerous guests are only interested in the 82-year-old legendary actor Nino Winter and his autobiography. The two meet again in the evening at the hotel bar. Ada involves Nino in a game - he is supposed to play a detective and shadow her. After a tour of the city, the games continue: Both are to answer any five of the other's questions honestly. Nino is skeptical, but eventually there are hundreds of questions, big and small, casual and existential, about life, love, fame, transience: what would Nino look like as a woman, what was nature thinking when it created the family, what does love sound like, what does death mean? Ada and Nino become allies of the night. They have to jump over their own shadows and a magical closeness develops between them. It is an encounter that neither of them will ever forget...