Luise, called Pünktchen, and Anton are closest of friends. Being the daughter of a wealthy surgeon, young Pünktchen lives in a great house. Her mother, who always travels through the world more for public relation reasons than for the social tasks she pretends to fulfill, is never available to her as a mother. Anton, son of a single and sick mother in financial trouble, does his best to help her out of it by working late. Pünktchen decides to help her only friend (as nobody else would anyway) and starts singing in public places. Trouble arises when Anton can't resist stealing a golden lighter and Pünktchen's secret life is discovered by her parents. Two troubled families finally can see the need for actions to be taken.

It all starts with a bang. The car breaks through the crash barrier and falls off the bridge. The lights go out. After that, he is not able to see anymore. His optic nerve is severed, from now on the young stage-director Jakob is blind. His life will change and nothing will ever be the same. Jakob cannot handle the idea of never being able to see again and screams at the only woman who is able and willing to help him, Lily. A rehabilitation teacher, she helps the blind deal with the darkness. Lily has been living with it since birth, she too is blind.

In 1933 Nuremberg, successful Jewish businessman Leo Katzenberger owns an apartment building and runs a shoe store. A devoted family man, he has a good relationship with his loving wife Claire. As the climate in Germany grows increasingly dangerous, bombshell Irene moves to the neighborhood. After forming an unlikely friendship, his relationship with Irene is immediately regarded with suspicion.

The last three weeks of school life have begun: After the Abitur, Germany's leaving certificate, the friends and schoolmates of Gymnasium Kerkheim (Kerkheim High) will not see each other again so soon. It is a hard time for Markus and his girl Sandra from a lower grade, as he wants to hang out with his old friends, whereas she wants him to be there for her. It's an even harder time for Dirk, who is to be expelled from school if he fails the math exam that is coming up around midday, and it is the hardest time for Michael, who is a perfect pupil, but has no fun in life at all - and doesn't even know it yet. When Steven calls out a party to celebrate his letter of exemption from the army, they all get together for one of the last real cool events ever.

Adolf Eichmann, one of the Third Reich's worst war criminals escapes to Argentina. With his wife and three sons he lives undiscovered in a German community in Buenos Aires until he his kidnapped by Israelis and tried for his crimes.

Lars Schelling runs a sushi bar in Berlin that was financed by the mafia. They now want their money back. Then suddenly his mother dies, and the next day he almost falls into the hands of kidnappers. Why? There's a lot of money involved that the Stasi put aside after the fall of communism to bribe politicians. And Lars possesses - without suspecting it - the code word for the Swiss bank...

Restorer Imke is called back to her hometown, which she once left after a dispute with her family. An unknown assailant has shot at the image of the sinner Mary Magdalene in the church.

The life of Professor Eva Senn, a successful science journalist and award-winning non-fiction author, quickly falls apart at the seams. First she is left by her husband Kurt after 30 years of marriage. Shortly afterwards, she loses her driver's license for drink driving. As if that wasn't enough, she hits student Lea Freudner while trying to reverse her friend Marie's badly parked car to make way for the bus. The accident has dramatic consequences: The young woman is paraplegic and Eva is to blame. For Eva, the path back to a normal life is almost impossible. Remorse and helplessness become constant companions. Then Eva meets the lawyer Peer Gutenberg, who lost his wife two years ago. He not only provides Eva with legal advice, but also tries to cheer her up. But Gutenberg always remains a little opaque and seems to know more than he lets on. Is he playing a double game?

The marriage crisis between Annabelle and Friedrich Schrader is barely over when Annabelle's mother Edda causes a stir with her late marriage plans. Edda has fallen in love with her rich classmate Martin Bergmann. When he turns out to be an impostor, the excitement is great. After all, Martin has boastfully announced that he will grant Annabelle and Friedrich an interest-free loan with which they can finance their dream home. The debts incurred by the house purchase weigh heavily on Friedrich's shoulders, who also doesn't have the best standing in his job as a chemist.

In 1930s Berlin, Dr. Jakob Fabian, who works by day in advertising for a cigarette company and by night wanders the streets of the city, falls in love with an actress. As her career begins to blossom, prospects for his future begin to wane.