Three years after his conviction for drug trafficking, Erich Kessel is about to be released from prison. It's a particularly trying time for this addiction-free former narcotics officer, whose seriously ill daughter has just died. With his wife, Claire, ready to give him a second chance after years of separation, and his former colleague and friend, Superintendent Mario Diller, having found him a job as a bartender, Kessel is determined to prove himself beyond reproach. But shortly before his release, the double murder of a young drug dealer and his fiancée, daughter of the powerful Syrian crime boss Walid Schukri, threatens to ruin his fine promises. The latter, who is serving a long sentence alongside Kessel, offers him a handsome sum to catch his daughter's killer. For the former commissioner, now broke, the temptation is great to accept this juicy contract, the ultimate investigation on the frontier of legality.

Andrea is a teacher at a gymnasium in Lübeck. She prefers to convince her students with arguments rather than punishments. But it can also be very specific: For example, when it comes to averting the advances of her problem student Niklas. He has fallen in love with her, much to the grief of his girlfriend and classmate Lisa. On a school trip, the situation comes to a head, Andrea feels increasingly pressurized by Niklas. Her husband Michael is not much help in this situation - the dentist has just started a new job and only his research in mind. Jealous Lisa tells in school that they do have a relationship, which makes their marriage very much tested.

Project manager Kevin returns to his childhood on the island of Sylt on a vacation with his daughter, motivated by closing a big deal there, since his company plans to build luxury apartments on a piece of land.

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.

Ten years after the tragic death of her parents in a mining disaster, Marianne returns to her hometown. She returns to GOLD, the rock band formed by her childhood friends, Kristoff and Kevin, who is the only survivor of the mining collapse. For GOLD's short-lived trio, commemorative week will slowly drag them into shocking and confusing areas.