Nele Mueller-Stöfen

During their vacation in the French countryside, a wealthy German family becomes entangled with a young hotel worker harboring sinister intentions.

Ten-year-old Jack has to take care of his little brother, six-year-old Manuel, every day from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed. When Manuel suffers an accident, their lives change forever.

On the 70th birthday of famous piano virtuoso Hannes Westhoff, a celebration is to take place at the patriarch's estate. For this occasion, his second wife Anne not only invited Westhoff's three sons Max, Fredrik and Gregor, but also their mother, Westhoff's ex-wife Renate. While Anne tries to maintain a friendly atmosphere, old conflicts resurface among the family. With tensions already high, things take a turn for the dramatic when son Max reveals shocking news.

Building contractor Jochen Schuster takes out loans worth millions to finance a dubious building project and fulfill the extravagant wishes of his lover. When his mountain of debt is so high that no bank will grant him a loan, he comes up with an idea: he scrapes together the last of his funds and drives up to the banks in a borrowed limousine and wig and tries to borrow money under a false identity. The banks fall for the trick and grant him the loans to "protect German cultural assets". Schuster can hardly believe his luck and handles the unexpected windfall just as irresponsibly as before...

How should you spend your time if your days are numbered? This is the question facing Linda, a young woman suffering from a congenital heart defect. Contrary to her doctors’ expectations she has managed to survive to celebrate her thirtieth birthday, but with an operation looming, Linda nonetheless feels a deep need to spend what might be her last weekend with her two sisters: Katharina who is older, and Clara who is younger than her. Linda must use their journey, which begins at their family’s weekend house and ends in Paris, to examine the ways in which her family has been fundamentally affected by her illness; she must also consider how much she can expect from herself and her sisters – faced as they are with the possibility of her death.

Katja Sterner has to start again. Full of confidence, she follows the beckoning of her rediscovered lucky talisman to the beautiful village of Herzfeldt. Will she find happiness there? There is an old pavilion in Herzfeldt where Katja's parents once got engaged. The pavilion is said to have magical powers in matters of love, but now it is to be demolished. Katja quickly decides to offer to restore the pavilion. But she urgently needs to find a job. A few years ago, she quit her job as a restorer to care for her parents. After their death, Katja now needs a new job, but there is simply nothing available in her home town. But Katja takes a positive view of things, and so her lucky charm leads her to Herzfeldt with her few possessions.

A woman's life is destroyed when she discovers that her husband has another family.

Edward Kaminsky, an aging ad man, wants a golden parachute from his agency; he must first land the Opel auto contract. Rosa, a youth with wealthy parents, wants to establish herself as an artist. The clumsy and enthusiastic Viktor, not quite honest, wants work. When he wanders into Kaminsky's meeting with Opel and says something about irony, the Opel director wants him in on the campaign. Then he steals an idea from Rosa that the Opel director loves. Before Rosa discovers he's expropriated her idea, Rosa and Viktor become lovers. Father-son feelings materialize between Kaminsky and Viktor. Can the impulsive Viktor hold it together before Rosa learns the truth and flies away?