Budapest in the 1930s. Restaurant owner Laszlo hires pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody sets off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans falls in love with Ilona as well.

After a chance encounter with a wanted man, a woman is harassed by the police and press until she takes violent action.

Hamburg, summer 1945: The young English control officer Captain Hannes Hacker arrives in the Hanseatic city to initiate the establishment of a new, liberal German radio station - in the Funkhaus on Rothenbaumchaussee. But Hacker also has private ties to Hamburg. He was born here and lived here until he had to leave his hometown on a Jewish Kindertransport.

Lona Vogt is a target investigator and, together with her friend and colleague Simon Katzer, has been on the trail of the murderer Manuel Bove for some time. Then the body of a young woman is found in the Wadden Sea near Husum.

The pupil Rull rehearses the uprising at a grammar school in Bremen and tries to break through the authoritarian structures of his school. The result is a humorous protest movement that demands a democratic school form.

A terrorist drives a car to Hamburg's Rathausmarkt and unloads an unknown device that he claims can cause radioactive contamination. A special unit tries to subdue the man, but this reveals that the only way to prevent the explosion is to constantly readjust a transmitter, so they have to let him go.

Jenny is sent to inspect a wool factory in the Hudson Highlands. It depends on her audit whether her client will turn the factory into fodder for "investors". But Jenny immediately falls in love with the store, the country and the people - and with her boss.

Kay Foster has not set foot on the Winley stud farm since her stepsister married Kay's childhood sweetheart. However, when she learns from her father George that an uncontrollable virus is raging there that threatens the existence of the stud farm, the renowned vet puts her feelings aside and travels to her old home, the Hudson Valley - a picturesque region just outside New York. She receives anything but a warm welcome from her stepmother Esther. Esther fears that Kay could jeopardize her daughter Alison's marriage - not unfounded, as Eric soon makes advances to Kay. Kay would prefer to leave again when her father suddenly dies. Esther accuses Kay of having upset George, who has a heart condition, too much and of being partly responsible for his death. Her accusations are not without consequences: Kay feels responsible.