Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.

Corinna witnesses how three guys chase and shoot a man in front of her lonesome house. As only witness, they force her to come with them and care for the guy's wound. But she manages to flee shortly after and takes Blondi to a doctor. He tells her his story, how he used to smuggle drugs, but one day fled with a suitcase full of money. Corinna inexplicably falls in love with him and decides to accompany him on his further flight. But the villains are close behind them.

In a small town a bag with delicate letters disappears. Many of the residents are worried about their written messages. A clever sculptor uses the opportunity to play a prank.

The forester Auer is found killed on a Sunday in the forest, and the police begins a feverish search for the culprit. Only pastor Gruber already knows who it is. It is Hannes Reyer, son of the richest farmer in the region, who has confessed the act of murder to him. Gruber, however, is bound to his obligation to secrecy. But when the young Ernst Nortinger is arrested under suspicion for murder, he knows what he has to do and relinquishes his priesthood in order to report Hannes to the police. But things don’t get so far, as Hannes dies in an accident during an altercation with the priest. Nonetheless, Gruber does not return to his office. In quiescence, he wants to find out whether he still can handle the burden of the priesthood. Senior pastor Bachmayer however is convinced that he will return.

At the behest of his father, the young Karl Valentin is to complete a carpentry apprenticeship. When the father gets into a financial mess by a strict creditor, the boy works with growing success as a comedian to support his parents financiall

Therese Hübner, owner of the “Linde”, is desperately trying to protect her long-established business from being taken over by the “Palasthotel”. But the bank manager doesn't want to grant her the loan she urgently needs, as he is betting on the newly opened luxury hostel. It's now old or new for the Linden landlady, who is shocked to realize that her daughters are also in favor of “modernity”. But just as she's about to give up, the tide turns. An admirer in love with his daughter Sabine plays fate...

A very stylized TV version of the Fassbinder play. The set consists of a few pieces of furniture in front of a large screen on which coastal scenery is back projected. Geesche is a nineteenth-century woman who wants to have a mind of her own. She defies convention and will do anything to achieve her freedom from oppression by her family and friends.

Second part of two of the saga of the troubled Buddenbrook family and their business in 19th century Germany.