Kristina Sprenger

An irreparable mistake in a case of abuse that drives the accused, a pastor, into suicide, prompted Kommissar Höllbacher to resign.

A male body was found floating in Lake Triestach near Lienz in East Tyrol. According to the autopsy, Konrad Kofler, Tyrol's Minister for the Environment, had a relatively low blood alcohol content and apparently drowned. After a meeting with the Ministers of Finance of all federal states, Kofler was on his way to Inner Ainöd, a side valley in East Tyrol, but he never arrived.

Robert Lahnstein, feared TV commentator, doesn't like people, not even at Christmas. He wants to be alone - even on Christmas Eve. He thinks Christmas is just as hypocritical as politics. That's why he packs his SUV with a frozen goose and a Christmas tree to retreat to his lonely cabin in the mountains. But the plan ends for him in a tree. With the last of his strength he reaches a barn. But he is not allowed to be alone even in the deepest wilderness, because other people have also sought shelter from the snowstorm in this barn and Robert Lahnstein has to gradually put aside his rudeness and his prejudices.

Lower Austria in the 80s. Anna helps out in her uncle's tavern to fund her studies and meets handsome Kurt who casts an eye on her. But when the local factory closes, life in the valley changes. Anna learns that Kurt is going to marry. Then a terrible accident occurs. The film conveys the rural society's changing self-conception and outlines the conflict between staying or leaving for the city.

Village policeman Gasperlmaier has a tough time in his third case. He's immediately summoned from a funeral to the bathroom of a family home. There, he finds a dead body. Together with his new superior, the investigation begins. But the first death is followed by a second. More and more pieces of the puzzle are piecing together a grim picture from the past. There's little time left for Gasperlmaier and his new boss, and it seems his mother-in-law is also involved.

In the mid-1970s, Elfi falls in love with Sepp. Since both are "slightly" disabled, serious problems soon arise. The decisions about their lives are made by others. What they simply imagine—marriage, having children, and simply being happy—becomes a difficult undertaking without a happy ending.

Tatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.