A novelty in German post-war history: a young woman becomes mayor in a village. She is efficient and enjoys respect, but soon enough two villagers disagree with her work. In her predecessor, a prominent farmer, she has a bitter enemy. But even her boyhood friend, who wants to marry her as he returns home from captivity, can not accept that his future wife holds such an office.

Teresa is a young, always cheerful woman, who has a harmonious marriage with the writer Peter Duhren. Unfortunately, it’s so harmonious, that he’s uncapable of writing a novel. So he decides instead to write a book about his own marriage. Teresa is so horrified about this indiscretion, that she asks for a divorce. Peter is prepared to withdraw the book from circulation to save his marriage, but when he finally is about to do so, it becomes a bestseller. Despite attempts at reconciliation, Teresa leaves his. So much for the alleged ‘harmonious’ marriage.

Carola has been running the family-owned circus alone since her husband’s death, but she suddenly finds herself at odds with her three adult sons who are also performance artists and want to have a say in how the business is run. The family discord leads Carola to turn her back on the circus, leaving the three inexperienced sons in charge. This turn of events forces the family to learn to work together or face bankruptcy.

The good-looking blond Iris is kidnapped by a gang of traffickers and shipped to Rio De Janeiro. There she is expected to fetch top prize from potential buyers of young women.

Set in German-occupied France in 1944 where a female resistance operative and a German army officer fall in love.

As the end of the Second World War approaches and the Soviet Red Army is advancing, a group of concentration camp inmates is helped to escape by a Polish doctor. They hide in a wood where they meet other fugitives, who have been there for months, constantly in fear of being discovered. Out of fear of the German army patrols, they do not dare to leave the forest, even as the food supplies run low.

A gang of thieves plan a hit on a warehouse filled with precious stuff.

After years of silence, Thomas reunites with his great love, Petra, and is devastated: She has married his best friend, Christoph. Thomas remains friendly but secretly schemes to denigrate Christoph as a criminal and thus reclaim the woman he loves.