Barbara Focke
Astrid is a comedian who makes people laugh for a living; her husband Markus is her manager and the two of them work well together. They have a nine-year-old daughter and are expecting their second child. When they learn that their child will not be born healthy, they are at first optimistic that they will be able to meet this challenge – although they have no idea what awaits them. But the closer it gets to the due date, the more Astrid begins to worry about the future of her unborn child as well as that of her family and her career. After many discussions and arguments Astrid realises that the decision that will affect all their lives must be made by her alone. What complicates matters further is the fact that, as a successful entertainer, she is in the eye of the public and the media.
Jasper finally wants to meet his dad! To fulfill his wish, Mother Maike first has to find out who that is. Three teenage acquaintances come into question: a farmer, a car screwdriver and the village's former heartthrob. With the eleven-year-old and his little sister Luise in the luggage, the lone parent drives to her hometown Füdrum, where she once turned her back as a pregnant woman. While Grandma Inge immediately closes her grandson's heart, old wounds soon break open on Maike's part.
It's the 24th of December: The emergency department of a district hospital is preparing for a turbulent night: head physician Professor Singer, who has lost his wife and is even more involved in the work, and the surgeon Hannah Cornelsen, who talks about the work can forget that she and her husband have dwelt apart. On Christmas Eve, the hospital will become a microcosm in which a wide variety of people and destinies will meet - and for everyone, life will be in a completely different light next morning.
The single Christine Arnold, who works with great success as a commercial lawyer in a Cologne law firm, is on her way to her old friend Judith, who is going through a very difficult phase of her life: recently she has parted company with her longtime friend Felix. They have a son, Marco, who is very attached to his loving father. Whenever possible, the boy spends time with his dad. However, Judith would like to see that Marco also develops a friendly relationship with her new life partner Georg.
In Hamburg, Ibrahim "Ibo" Secmez, of Turkish descent, wants to direct the first German kung-fu movie. For now, he makes commercials for his uncle's kebab restaurant. Titzie, an aspiring actress and Ibo's German girlfriend, finds she's pregnant. Ibo is uncertain about fatherhood - compounded by his father's disowning him for getting a German girl pregnant - so Titzie sends him packing. He makes attempts at getting it right, but as the birth approaches, he's still not ready. In the background are three thugs in search of good tripe soup and a Capulet-Montegue feud between the kebab joint and a Greek taverna across the street. Can Ibo be the glove upon that hand?
Stefanie von Nauenstedt begins a passionate affair with David, her brother-in-law, and realizes only too late how much her husband André and her son mean to her.
In 1943, while the Allies are bombing Berlin and the Gestapo is purging the capital of Jews, a dangerous love affair blossoms between two women - one a Jewish member of the underground, the other an exemplar of Nazi motherhood.
The murder victim is a man in a dress. Discovering his true identity takes Brunnetti into the world the transvestites, charity finance, other victims and ultimately the killer.
