Hans Castorp, fresh from university and about to become a civil engineer, comes to the Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin Joachim, an army officer, who is recovering there from tuberculosis. Intending to remain at the Berghof for three weeks, Hans is gradually contaminated by the morbid atmosphere pervading the place. Wishing very much to be considered a patient like the others, he achieves his ends and stays in the sanatorium for ...seven years. During this time, he has enough time to take part in the furious philosophical debates pitting against each other Settembrini, a secular humanist, and Naphta, a totalitarian Jesuit. And to fall in love with the beautiful but enigmatic Clawdia Chauchat. When he is finally discharged in 1914 - along with all the other patients - it is only to plunge into the horrors of World War I.

Berlin at the end of the 19th Century. Alexander Hoffmann is an ambitious PhD student of Ethnology. When a delegation of the Herero and Nama tribes travels to Berlin during a ‘Colonial Exhibition’, he takes a special interest in their young female translator Kezia Kambazembi as subject for his studies.

In the not-too-distant future Berlin is shocked by a series of spectacular suicides; a policeman's investigations lead him to a beautiful, enigmatic woman and the revelation of a sinister plot to manipulate the population through mass hypnosis.

The consequences of the climate catastrophe are dramatic in 2034. Drought and floods destroy the livelihoods of millions of people. After the third storm tide in a row, the headquarters of the International Court of Justice in The Hague was evacuated. In a provisional interim building in Berlin, the climate catastrophe becomes the subject of legal proceedings. Two lawyers represent 31 countries of the global South, which are doomed to destruction without the support of the international community.

Inspector Hannah Mangold returns to her old office after a long stay in a psychiatric ward. She is still suffering from anxiety attacks after an escaped inmate shot her daughter Laura's friend in front of her eyes. The perpetrator actually wanted to kill Hannah. However, her former position as head of department has now been taken over by her colleague Ulf Habermann. Lucy Palm is the youngest investigator in the department and doesn't take any advice from her colleagues. At first she is suspicious of the ex-head of department Mangold, who is secretly referred to by her colleagues as "the madwoman". But the longer she works with Hannah, the more she comes to appreciate her.

Nina Wenzel used to be an undercover agent. After her sister's death five years ago Nina gets child custody of the three orphans and quits her dangerous job. In her new family-life she manages to retain some of her skills. When Wolf Geiger, the last person Nina imprisoned, escapes, Nina's old skills are needed again.

Every year, 17-year-old Wolfgang from Hesse spends his summer vacation with his grandfather in Fischerhude in Schleswig-Holstein. In the north, he always meets his childhood sweetheart Nanni, whom he wants to marry soon. But the two of them are not destined for happiness. The war throws a spanner in the works. Love must fail.