When Martin, a former GDR citizen, is released from jail, he lately becomes confronted with the consequences of the German re-unification.
In a German town, teacher Irene leads an inconspicuous, boring, lonely life. One day, a man rings at her door and slips in. It's an armed convict from the prison next door, escaped with a leg wound. He now makes her a prisoner in her own home. Almost without a word, as if she secretly enjoys the excitement or just mesmerized, she obeys Vassily, every single command, even sexual services, submissively or after a symbolic struggle. Somehow that seems to change, but can force initiate love?
Jean Berlinger is a gentleman and master thief. With playful ease he breaks into well-secured museums and steals their most valuable exhibits. The police are always in the wrong. With the money he receives for the precious loot, he supports retirement homes and homeless shelters. In preparation for his next coup, Berlinger meets the beautiful educator Julia. She runs a kindergarten next to the Egyptian Museum, from which Berlinger wants to steal the world-famous Nefertiti.
It is set in a dreary village in the Schwabian-Frankish Forest where the seemingly reserved Lena lives with her tyrant of a husband, Johannes, in a loveless marriage. Johannes is the village's spiritual leader and Lena is his faithful, ever-ready-to-serve wife. Lena's daily life is characterized by grinding monotony, a life narrowly circumscribed by nursing, organ playing and the duties of the marriage bed. The mysterious murder of a village girl suddenly knocks this humdrum existence off its tracks. In the wake of these events Lena discovers the affection and tenderness for which she has always longed in Paul, the village mechanic. This encounter is the start of an emancipation that leads her not to reveal Paul's secret regarding the girl's murder, for fear of losing her newly won piece of happiness. In turn it means she has to remain silent, as she has always done in her many years of marriage. So it is that this love ultimately turns Lena herself into a fallen angel.
A man travels to Berlin because his ex girlfriend is in a coma. He takes their son, Manuel. The father goes to the clinic often and Manuel feels out of place, so he prefers to ride his skateboard through the city in winter. The speechless and motionless body of the woman disturbs father and son, each one in his own way. The son faces the libidinous turbulences of becoming an adult, while the father suffers the physical discomforts of his age. A confrontation of different body images within an environment of emotional distance and the coldness of the city.
Stories of the Berlin city life, separated into five episodes. A hopeless impostor. An East German couple who dreams of the big money. Three Turkish teenagers who do everything to have sex. Two hapless Satanists. And gay boys who dream of a better world.
Brigitta Nielebeck suffered a serious car accident in which miraculously escape unscathed. However, she has lost his memory. Doctors recommend her to spend time with family members. Therefore, make contact with Marie, her 16 year old daughter, who for two years living with a host family.
Barbara Herzog has managed the traditional Maibach paper mill since the death of her father. The respected medium-sized company is a well-established family business: Mother Elisabeth works in the office, Barbara's younger brother Rainer manages the technical processes, and Barbara's daughter Ina is to join the company after completing her studies. When machine damage paralyzes production, Barbara has to cancel the annual profit distribution in order to buy new machines.
Ten-year-old Lena has been looking forward to Christmas for weeks. But three days before Christmas Eve, she falls onto the ice while ice skating and falls into a coma. Her distraught mother Marie spends day and night at her bedside. Two months later, Lena wakes up - she thinks it's just before Christmas. And because Marie has promised that this year's celebration will be extra special for Lena, Christmas has to come a second time - with all the trimmings...
Tom Kostner is a macho man. He cheats on his two girlfriends, drives a flashy Cobra and works as an editor for a car magazine. He lives in a chic penthouse with his roommate, the bartender Ecki . But it is more appearances than reality: he is soon fired from the magazine. His girlfriend Manu catches him with his other girlfriend and leaves him too. He applies to some other magazines, but has no success there. When his Cobra is towed because he is behind on the installments, he grasps at his last straw: he applies to a women's magazine. However, since they prefer to hire women and homosexual men, he plays the gay man. At first he makes a few mistakes, but ultimately manages to convince the other employees.
Madeleine Montana lives in her self-created world and in the fantasy that she is still a famous bestselling author. The taboo-free cynic has a sharp tongue against everyone and everything - including her own son Oliver. When a serial killer terrorizes Vienna, it turns out that the crimes are based on scenarios from Madeleine's books.
Music teacher Carlo, an easygoing old rock'n'roller, meets doctor Ellen in hospital. She is completely stressed out, so that even son Franz often falls by the wayside. A short time later, Carlo makes an unforgivable mistake: fed up with the pupils' never-ending paltry questions, he advises Franz, whose anger at his mother is slowly boiling over, that he should simply report her to the Youth Welfare Office.
Anne Kampmann earns very well as an auditor for a renowned management consultancy and is one of the few women in her industry to have made it far. Having just turned 39, however, despite her professional success she feels an increasing longing for a private life, for which she has never had time in her 60-hour working week.
Andrea actually wanted to spend a nice weekend in Italy with her brother Martin and her mother Helga. But when Martin abandons her shortly before departure, she sets off to Verona alone with her mother, to whom they had given the trip as a present for her 75th birthday. The meticulously planned short vacation soon turns out very differently than planned and the mother-daughter relationship is put to the test. When the return flight is canceled due to a volcanic eruption, Helga steals a rental car without further ado. She actually wants to help her daughter, who has to return to Hamburg as quickly as possible due to a work emergency, but Andrea has her problems with her mother's irresponsible behavior...
With the help of her adversary Marius Perlinger, Barbara Herzog is able to avert the impending sale of the Maibach paper mill. Marius is suddenly prepared to put his demands on hold. In return, he has a vacant inn, which is part of the company's property, signed over to him. Barbara and Marius slowly grow closer, which has a harmonizing effect on the Herzogs' strained family life. But before things get really serious between the lovers, Barbara's world-traveling husband Wolfgang suddenly turns up...
By a stupid coincidence, single mother Tanja and her two children have to share their vacation home on the Cote d'Azur with the writer Paul Wackernagel. A pure battle of the sexes breaks out between the author of chauvinistic advice books for suffering men and the divorce lawyer.
A journalist believes that her father's death from cancer was caused by radioactive radiation.
In court for violations of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act and the War Weapons Control Act, the managers of HSW try to wriggle out of the trial while their opponents in Mexico search for evidence.
Lars Schelling runs a sushi bar in Berlin that was financed by the mafia. They now want their money back. Then suddenly his mother dies, and the next day he almost falls into the hands of kidnappers. Why? There's a lot of money involved that the Stasi put aside after the fall of communism to bribe politicians. And Lars possesses - without suspecting it - the code word for the Swiss bank...
A Neukölln clan boss becomes a climate activist. A gender doll inventor who fulfills her most secret wishes with a fake gun and a new girlfriend in Grunewald. A balcony beekeeper whose bee colony is on speed. And in the middle of it all, a fisherman who wants to conjure up sustainable snacks from invasive swamp crabs. What unites them all? A hot summer in the capital - and waiting for the rain!