Eduard Bornträger

For more than 50 years, Pauline Neuber has directed the "Olympia" theatre, but lately, business has been bad. It appears that no one will be able to make it better either: the audience doesn't seem to like the plays; the press even less so; and the shareholders of the theatre want to sell their shares. In short, the "Olympia" has one foot in the grave. Erich, grandchild of Pauline and always underestimated by her, gets to know Hella Bergson, the daughter of the theatre critic Peter Bergson, and falls in love with her - but doesn't have an idea whose daughter she is. He plays her some melodies from the first operetta he's ever composed and Hella convinces him to have the operetta performed in the "Olympia". During rehearsal of the operetta, however, a fight breaks out between Erich and Hella over a stupid misunderstanding.

The film portrays the life of the Heidelberg-born Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine, who married into the French royal family during the reign of Louis XIV.

A reckless young woman has her driving license withdrawn, drives home anyway and gets involved in a traffic accident. Realizing this was a little over the top she decides that she has to flee the country. As fate has it, she misses her train and instead meets a handsom young man who imidiately falls in love with her. This marks the beginning of a long night of misunderstandings, chases and courting.

A small banking family is put to the test: Brigitte, the wife of the banker Sparrenberg, has a secret: she was once the lover of the fraudster Baron Gaffris, who once used her to get close to well-off businessmen. Now Gaffris is trying to use her to trick her husband. After a fight between Brigitte and Gaffris, Brigitte’s daughter Ina seeks out the baron in an attempt to help her mother. Afterwards, the baron’s suddenly found dead on the floor. Brigitte takes all the blame, goes to the cops and admits to having stabbed Gaffris.

1865. Katharina goes to a ball in Moscow. There she meets again Tchaikowsky, her first and only love. The young, who is now married to wealthy Michael Iwanowitsch Murakin, a man she does not love, has not forgotten Piotr Illich, the (not yet) famous composer. Both are still in love with each other but Piotr is engaged to Nastassia, a dancer, while for her part Katharina cannot leave her husband. Tchaikowky's first love then decides to sacrifice her happiness to the success of the composer, sponsoring him in secret. Something Piotr will learn only years after. When Katharina finds herself free at last it is too late: Tchaikowsky is dying of cholera and she only has time to close his eyes.

In the very old-fashioned town of Ostend suddenly 13 suitcases are delivered to the Grand Hotel, with a note, that O.F. will be here soon and needs 6 rooms. This event, probably the biggest in 300 years, starts a small wave of modernisation, yet everybody is wondering who O.F. is.

A group of artists and journalists enjoy a series of romantic entanglements in a country hotel. An author, Vera von Eichberg "of whom no photo exists," has mentioned the hotel in her work, boosting its notoriety. When another female guest arrives, everyone assumes she is the author, despite her repeated assertions to the contrary.

On the Faroe Islands, people eke out a meagre existence by catching birds. Merchant Brause pays them little and does a good business. This comes under threat when Dr. Sten Horn suspects that the dangerous annual plague, which kills dozens of inhabitants, is transmitted by birds. Brause forces the people to work anyway and conceals the telegram from the Copenhagen research institute that confirms Horn's suspicions. Horn, supported by his cousin Arne, enlightens the islanders and the greedy Brause can only flee.