Manuel Rubey

A fictional account of one year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Christmas Eve 1877, Elisabeth, once idolized for her beauty, turns 40 and is officially deemed an old woman; she starts trying to maintain her public image.

Two girls from very different social backgrounds discover, at the age of 25, that they had been switched at birth.

Andreas and Stefan lead a happy and passionate life: Together with their beloved tomcat Moses, they live in a beautiful old house in Vienna's vineyards. They work as a musician and as a scheduler in the same orchestra and they love their large circle of friends. An unexpected and inexplicable outburst of violence suddenly shakes up the relationship and calls everything into question - the blind spot that resides in all of us.

Because of the power of love, the last year of Franz Kafka's life becomes his happiest. The well-known writer has never before been able to allow himself to experience intimacy, he suffers from tuberculosis and is dependent on his overbearing family. In the summer of 1923, he met Dora Diamant in the seaside resort Graal-Müritz on the Baltic Sea coast, where he is convalescing and she is working in a Jewish Volksheim. He is a man of world, the 14 years younger woman is from the deep East, he can write, she can dance. She has both feet firmly on the ground, he is always hovering a little above it. She embraces the indicative, he gets tangled up in the conjunctive. But the worldly wise Dora accepts him as he is. And he accepts her. Together they go to Berlin and when Franz's health deteriorates rapidly, to a sanatorium in Austria. They are granted a single year together until Franz Kafka's health deteriorates incurable. However their year together allows them to feel the glory of life.

In Mödling, a small town near Vienna, girls between the ages of 18 and 20 have been disappearing without a trace at ever shorter intervals for the past 13 years. Residents are worried and accuse the police of incompetence. In this environment of fear and mistrust, the 19-year-old schoolgirl Jeanny meets the mysterious but charming tax consultant Johannes, which initially has something threatening about it. But Johannes sees more in Jeanny than just an innocent girl. And he gives Jeanny, who lost her father at a young age, support and recognition. He helps her to pass the Matura, he awakens her self-confidence and gives her the appreciation that she misses. An unusual love grows between the two, which is initially kept secret from everyone. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into the whirl of her feelings, the aggressive climate in the town continues to escalate. A militia is formed. Jeanny is becoming increasingly insecure. Can she really trust Johannes?

1779. Eight-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven, called "Louis", is already known as a musical prodigy. He learns to go his own way - much to the dismay of the people around him. Some years later, he meets Mozart during times of political upheaval. The unconventional genius and French Revolution are sparking a fire in Louis' heart; he doesn't want to serve a master - only the arts. Facing times of family tragedies and unrequited love, he almost gives up. However, Louis makes it to Vienna to study under Haydn in 1792, and the rest is history. Who was this man, whose music has since touched countless hearts and minds? At the end of his life, the master is isolated by loss of loved ones and hearing. Surely though, he was way ahead of his times.

The body of a teenage girl is found at the foot of a waterfall, a heart-shaped stone in her hand. The investigation leads the police on the trail of a local legend.