In a small farming valley in Austria in the beginning of the 20th century a tyrannical farmer is found dead, and all the farmhands are relieved to be free of their tyrant. But the farmer was childless, so suddenly they all inherit the farm together. Now conflicts begin, as nobody is the boss and nobody has to obey.

Much has changed for Simon Polt, a retired gendarmerie inspector. He's embarking on new career paths, and his future with his long-time girlfriend, Karin Walter, suddenly took on a completely new perspective. Polt has little contact with the police, who now watch over the small villages in the Wiesbach Valley—his only friend is Norbert Sailer, a law enforcement officer who's just his style. But the discovery of a stranger's body completely disrupts Simon Polt's quiet world: No one claims to have known the dead man, but some seem to know more about him than they're willing to admit to the police.

Pepperminta is an anarchist of the imagination. She lives in a futuristic rainbow villa and according to her own rules. Colors are the young woman's best friends and strawberries are her pets. She knows the most amazing remedies to free people of their fears. Pepperminta's wish is for everyone to see the world in her favorite colors. Werwen, a young plump and shy man yet whose sex appeal Pepperminta finds highly attractive, and the beautiful Edna, who talks to tulips, join her on her passionate mission. These three musketeers of a different kind set out to fight for a more humane world. Wherever the gang appears, everything is turned upside down and people's lives are transformed in the most miraculous and wondrous of ways.

Nick Gutlicht lives of illegally selling valuable books, owes money to a bunch of other crooks and has to hide from them. By chance he ends up in the mansion of the famous, now very old philosopher Curt Ledig, who despite the age related forgetfulness and pathological kitchen phobia resists to move to his daughter. Nick is hired by the family as watchdog. Now Curt can work on a presentation for the upcoming symposium, which anybody thinks he's capable of anymore. Nick thinks he has an excellent hiding place. This partnership of convenience of the two individuals quickly develops its own momentum. Curt regards Nick as an exciting research object and subjects him to an absurd therapy. For Nick it's a unique opportunity to fund his finances with Curt's phenomenal library. The strange couple is going through turmoil of incalculable proportions.

Clara Immerwahr and her husband to be Fritz Haber are both young and gifted chemists. Their struggle for acknowledgment in nationalistic Germany during World War I lead to the development and use of the first chemical weapons.

An all-girl Catholic boarding school near Vienna for the wealthy Austrian elite and their children. The school is thriving, but faith is declining and the upper floors are de­ser­ted. The head of the institution, a young energetic nun, fights with ardor against this decline. Martha, 12, one of the nun’s favorite pupils, is a devoted girl who wishes to expiate the sins of the world. Encouraged by the nun, she is given a penance belt and taken to the abandoned upper floor.

The young, despotic and untalented artist Adolf Hitler comes to Vienna to study art. He befriends the Jew Schlomo Herzl working on a novel with the title "Mein Kampf". Hitler is rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Herzl's concern for the sad young man continues, and leads him to a new career with disastrous consequences for world history.

After earlier hostility, Halfried Seelig is now widely recognized for what she does. Her daughter Marion is trying to put down roots again in her former home after separating from her husband Thomas. It is not made easy for her, especially not by her adolescent daughter Laura.

Hanna Forster is still waiting eagerly for the return of her husband Karl, who has been in Russian captivity for seven years. Hanna brought the family and joinery on her own through the war and post-war years. When Karl finally returns, Hanna is overjoyed, but luck does not last long. Heavily injured and traumatized, Karl finds it difficult to get used to everyday and family life again. To prevent the bankruptcy of the joinery, Hanna makes a momentous decision.