Johann Gottfried Schadow is only in his early twenties when he is put in charge of the royal sculptor's workshop in Prussia's capital Berlin. He is supported in this position above all by the fair ladies.

In a king's kingdom there is a forest so dangerous that every man who goes into it is never heard from again. Iron Hans, who is responsible for the deaths, is found at the bottom of a lake and locked up in the king's palace

The body of young Christa Gellert is fished out of the water in a small town on the Elbe in the spring of 1964. Everything points to an accident - Christa drowned while picking willow catkins during an official trip with town councillor Stegmeier and his colleague Anna Sell. That's what the people involved say, but then rumors start to spread. Detective Hans Gregor investigates. His boss Erwin Müller, who has known the councillor for many years, is unamused. When questioning the witnesses, Gregor only comes across hints. An exhumation of the dead is carried out. It is discovered that Christa was pregnant. Her colleague Helga, a former student on probation, knows about the councilman's relationship with Christa. But she is afraid to testify. Gregor has to fight his way through a web of dependencies, career thinking and mistrust until he solves the case.

"Je t'aime, Chérie." These three words and a Bulgarian volleyball jersey is all Martina, a young working woman from Berlin, is left with after a night at the beach spent with a mysterious lover. But then she learns that she is pregnant, and once the baby is born, she starts for Bulgaria to search for her son’s father. The orderly yet diffident Thomas, an employee of the embassy of the GDR, joins her in order to provide diplomatic support. The quest, however, turns out to be rather difficult.

On the way to summer camp, eleven-year-old Lena develops a crush on Wolfgang, but Antonia is interested in him too. Although Lena and Wolfgang grow closer to each other, camp director Eichler disapproves of their relationship and tries to split them up by assigning them to different groups. The conflicts escalate until one night, during a disco event, Lena suddenly runs away.

A gay man's return to his family in East Germany begins a series of tragic events.