In a German village in 1942, farmer Heinrich Marten is conscripted, leaving behind his wife Kathrin and sister Frieda. As the two young women cannot manage the farm alone, they are given help by the state: a prisoner of war. The Russian Alexei is emaciated and has to be nursed back to health by the women. Working together in the fields and on the farm, Kathrin and Frieda inevitably get closer to the Russian. The resolute Frieda is courted by the local farmer Otto Lange and is at the same time dependent on him. A love affair develops between Kathrin and Alexei. They make love in a shed. But the couple is discovered by a soldier and Alexej flees. He is caught by young Nazis and taken away.

Uli and Nora share an intimate, late love. But Uli always avoids the decision to stand on the common relationship. One morning Uli suffers a stroke during a tour of the harbor on the Elbe. He fights his way through the city to the reading room of the library where Nora works. At the last minute, an ambulance takes Uli to the hospital. In this situation, Nora is overwhelmed. When, on the initiative of her friend Eva, she fetches a few things for Uli from his apartment, a cell phone rings. At the other end there is an unknown female voice that sounds strangely familiar ...

Full of joy and good intentions, detective Claudia Studer starts her new job in the homicide division.