Wolf-Dietrich Sprenger

Set in Hamburg's “Hell's Kitchen,” a waterfront milieu of gangsters, pimps, dealers and prostitutes, the story follows the attempts of an ex-seaman first to insinuate himself into the scene, and then to extricate himself from it. He becomes a small-time pimp, sending his naive girlfriend out onto the streets thinking she is financing their middle-class future. When he becomes involved with an old pal, Nil, he increases his criminal portfolio. But when he steals Nil's girlfriend and things heat up, he leaves for his sister's middle-class home in Berlin, where his attempts to fit in are doomed from the start. Returning to Hamburg, he starts a rapid decline that delivers him into the waiting arms of Nil, whose revenge is merciless.

Inspired by true events, Olympic swimmer Harry Melchior defects from East Germany in the 1960s and hatches a daring plot to help his sister and others flee East Berlin through a 145-yard underground tunnel.

Martha is a single woman who lives for one passion: cooking. The head chef at a chic restaurant, Martha has no time for anything - or anyone - else. But Martha's solitary life is shaken when a fateful accident brings her sister's eight-year-old daughter, Lina, to her doorstep.

Shezad is a Pakistani refugee seeking his fortune in Hamburg. At night, he sells roses in pubs. During the day, he is looking for a job. He starts working as a dishwasher and soup cook in a Chinese restaurant. Xiao, the waiter, and Shezad dream of opening their own restaurant. Herder, the janitor of the asylum seekers' home and part-time escape helper, has to go abroad. Shezad takes over his job and finds the money for the restaurant in East Berlin by not entirely legal means. So Shezad and Xiao's dream comes true. However, the day of the opening ends differently than the two of them had imagined.

The two washed-up TV stars Micki and Ginger and the unemployed physicist Reno try to kidnap a young woman. But one of the three kidnappers suddenly doubts the value of the money and drives his accomplices mad. The kidnapped woman is already missing. Three children from a good family are looking for their sister: the dutiful Junior, who counts up his day in seconds, his brother Adrian, who, by contrast, thinks life is one big family outing, and Sophia, the artist, who never finds the real thing in life.

A struggeling TV documentarian's personal and professional life crumbles as he moves between the city and the countryside.

When Borchert receives an anonymous message that a certain Franz Brosi is innocent, law firm boss Dominique can hardly believe it. After all, Brosi was her first client as a public defender a few years ago and had actually confessed. The two are investigating the case.

East Germany, in autumn 1999. Gudrun Pfaff is about to turn sixty when she finds out that the orphanage she grew up in is being sold to turn into a hotel, and she is willing to do anything to stop it.