Franziska Buch

Poor Bibi - due to her bad marks in maths she has to spend the whole summer in the boarding school of Altenberg to scrape through a series of exams - otherwise she'd stay down in school, being forced to repeat the year. No camping, no white-water rafting, no vacation at all. So it doesn't surprise anyone that the young witch is quite disgruntled when arriving at Altenberg Castle. Her roommate is a touchy unpleassant fashion victim and headmaster Quirin Bartels is so muddle-headed that he can't even remember the names of his students properly. But then Bibi makes friends with Elea, a girl wheelchair-bound since a terrible accident where she also lost her beloved parents. Now Bibi is determined to help the sensitive Elea, searching a way to heal her from her palsy legs.

The twelve-year-old Emil and his father are haunted by bad luck. To take a break from a series of family disasters, Emil is allowed to spend a few days with a friend of the family, the female priest Hummel in Berlin. In the train he runs across the slick Max Grundeis who anaesthetizes Emil and steals his savings of 1500 DM. When he finally arrives in Berlin, Emil and a gang of street kids, led by the cheeky girl Pony Hütchen, try to find the gangster, who haunts the posh Hotel Adlon as a hotel thief. Meanwhile, to prevent anyone from finding out about Emil's mishap, Gypsi, a member of the gang of kids, passes himself off as Emil, thus wreaking havoc on the home of the priest.

A boy who was once a perpetual outcast finds friends in a new boarding school. United with his new peers, he gets involved in a heated rivalry with a group of students from a neighboring school.

Bank manager Frank and writer Patrizia meet by coincidence again and again at the airport. They commute between Dusseldorf and Paris, but behind their travels are two fateful stories. Frank wants to complete the business of his life, Patrizia visits her lover, who is in a coma since a car accident. For both life comes out of joint and they each suffer heavy losses. What connects them is the search for hold, a listener, the need to be needed and the hope that there is a beginning in each end.

After more than 20 years, the marriage of Bevon consultant Thea and car mechanic Rainer has been worn down by years of routine. Thea lacks appreciation from her family and no longer has access to her teenage daughter Janina. Her husband Rainer is still mourning his missed chance of a career as a rock star and is hopelessly at odds with his son Patrick. When Heinrich Bittner, a supposedly close friend of Thea's deceased father, suddenly moves in with the Cronpichels, Thea enjoys his presence and begins to see her life with new eyes. But is the charming and mysterious Heinrich really who he claims to be?

A 17 year old boy falls in love with a 37 year old woman. As if this wouldn't be enough they are of different social classes and she is married.

Once again, 16-year-old Jonas starts at a new school and, as always, he has no intention of being anybody’s darling. Jonas has muscular dystrophy, is confined to a wheelchair and knows that he will die sooner rather than later from this incurable and progressive disease. His mother Alma, who raises Jonas alone and would rather take a second job than forego therapy for him, is determined to delay his deterioration. She has placed Jonas with Dr. Wildenhahn, an authority on Duchenne disease. The doctor manages to be taken seriously by Jonas, that is until he gets to know Emily, Marianne Wildenhahn's daughter, who goes to his class. Emily has a massively low academic grade, which she hides from her mother because of the doctor’s high standards. Emily falls in love with Jonas, and her sincere affection gives him the courage to love her back. Emily and Jonas become a couple, overcoming all obstacles.

The young actress Käthe is not 18 when she conquered Berlin's theater stages. Privately she finds her luck alongside the famous artist Max Kruse, but the wild marriage is considered scandalous and has a negative effect on the sale of his art. Thus, Käthe moves without him into an artists' colony on Monte Verità on Lake Maggiore. Out of necessity, she creates a doll that has never been seen before: with a natural expression and vivid facial expressions. What follows is a blitz career. But the phenomenal success of their handmade dolls causes unpleasant imitations - their company is about to go out.