Kornelia Boje

Donizetti's opera as film.

The owner of a hotel at the river of a lake lives deeply embittered since his girlfriend disappeared in mysterious circumstances more than 20 years ago. But when one day he sees on television a young woman with a remarkable resemblance to her, he decides to hire her. Her presence increases his sick obsession to recover his lost love.

Nele Ungureit is blindsided: suddenly, after 35 years of marriage, her husband Fred leaves her for his secretary. Nele's ideas of happiness together in old age are suddenly shattered. Even her two grown-up children Susan and Hannes are no support for her in this difficult situation. Nele has great difficulty adjusting to her new single life - until the surprising inheritance of a spacious city villa gives her an idea: together with some senior citizens she has met in the meantime, Nele sets up a shared flat and life together. The only problem is that her son Hannes has his own plans for the villa.

When British philosopher Harold Hilliard took off for Warsaw to lecture on the Dysteleological Surd, he had no idea that he would soon become embroiled in international espionage. During the trip he tried to open a suitcase he mistook for his own. When a fellow passenger, a Pole with stainless steel teeth, took umbrage, Hilliard put it down to bad manners, but when the same man saw him pick up the wrong coat in the plane, Hilliard realized that he was suspected of spying. The party at the airport to welcome Hilliard only convinced the Polish agent that the British Secret Service was now picking its men with extraordinary cleverness. Hilliard, whose works were little known in England, was warmed by unaccustomed praise but chilled by the apparent certainty of the counter espionage people that he was a British agent whose code name was Whale.

In the small town of Rechnitz a terrible crime against humanity was performed during the holocaust. Until now, no-one dares to talk about it.