"Everyone has dreams, and dreaming is never stupid." So says Paula, a girl whose dreams are as big as her heart. For a long time, Paula has kept a diary, and written inside are her biggest secrets. When her diary is stolen by a pair of child thieves, she is devastated. But Tobi, a fellow classmate, knows where the thieves live, and offers to help Paula in exchange for tutoring lessons to pass his English exam. What starts out as a simple routine soon turns into an adventure, and Paula and Tobi eventually discover that first impressions can sometimes be wrong, and that some things are more irreplaceable than others.

To her mother's horror, Lena's father gives Lena a rat for her birthday, which turns out to be a seismograph of an impending family drama.

Oliver and the much older photographer Hendrik are a couple. A rather contrasting couple: Hendrik has already achieved a lot in his life and is considered an 'old hand' in his profession. Oliver, on the other hand, is only at the beginning of his career as a photographer and has retained a childlike naivety and playfulness in his life plans. Oliver and the young Silvia meet at a photo session. It is immediately clear to the ambitious Silvia that Oliver is her springboard to a modeling career. That same evening, Hendrik proposes to Oliver. But Oliver makes an almost unfulfillable condition: He wants a child! Hendrik is completely at a loss. What should he do? Then Silvia bursts into his house. All she really wants is to be photographed by Oliver. But things turn out differently...

Set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her, the story advances the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare's plays.