A family of a German linguist lives with an indigenous tribe in Papua New Guinea.

The summer break is over and the twins returned to Lindenhof. That has now changed a lot. Because Mrs Theobald had to travel, Mademoiselle Bertoux has taken the lead.

Ann Berg, in her late twenties, is an ambitious intern in the Forensic Medicine department. While investigating a crime scene she is shocked to find evidence of a crocodile attack. She turns to the expert Mitch "Croc" McDearie for help.

Seventeen-year-old Thomas and his father Niels spend their summer holidays at the Spanish coast. But their father and son time out takes a turn when a boat with African refugees sinks close to their hotel. One of them is 20-year-old Djamile. On a motorbike tour Thomas runs into Djamile and quickly decides to hide her from the Spanish authorities and the smugglers who brought her to Europe. When Niels and Angelica, Thomas’ teacher and his father’s love affair, learn about Thomas’ secret the situation is getting even more explosive. Niels does not support his son’s plans at all. Naive but passionate Thomas struggles to find a way to save Djamile. Deeper and deeper, he explores an unknown world of desperation, hope, greed, violence, betrayal, sorrow and... love.

Arne comes into the family of an old friend of his father as a foster child. He hopes to find closeness and security with Harald, his wife Elsa and their children Hans, Wiebke and Lars. But he finds it difficult to integrate - his trust in the community has been shaken by his great misfortune. However, he feels attracted to Wiebke, even though she keeps distancing herself from him. After Arne's clumsiness causes the sailing boat that the young people had restored together to be wrecked during the launch and he is supposedly a traitor after a joint theft, a rift occurs with Wiebke and her brothers. Harald is also deeply disappointed in his foster son.

Christa is unperturbed by her son's game: The boy is a fan of "Starship Enterprise". The two of them cheerfully communicate as Kirk and Spock. It is therefore hardly noticeable that Christa develops the first signs of paranoia, especially as deep mistrust is spreading throughout the country: the story is set in the spring of 1986, when a nuclear disaster has just occurred in Chernobyl. Christa's husband has to watch helplessly as his wife drifts into madness.

Architect Alexander Beck has just won an architecture prize. He wants to modernize GDR building blocks in Thuringia. Alex travels to the heart of rural Eastern Germany where he grew up and where people remember him as Alex from the Free German Youth, a pro-GDR youth organization.

Vacation in Mauritius! Frank Kowalski simply treats himself to one with his wife Sandy and son Jochen. When the Ossi happens to save the blasé Renate von Zangenheim from a purse snatcher, her husband Hubertus wants to return the favor with a dinner. But the subsequent trip on the Protzwessis' yacht ends fatally in a fiasco. Shipwrecked, both families end up stranded on an uninhabited island...