Episode list

Julian, Niko and mother Dorothee Berger settle into the penthouse that Dorothee's best friend Hanna Hassencamp has given them. Dorothee learns from the bank that her husband Clemens has blocked her account after their separation. She seeks him out at his young mistress Sue's. Clemens does not seem to mind that she is in financial distress. In a quarrel, Clemens and Dorothee part ways. When Dorothee finds several rejections of her applications to become a doctor in the mail, she is close to despair. As her two sons leave in the evening and her friend Hanna has a date, Dorothee goes alone to a restaurant and meets the attractive Paul Steiner. A fierce flirtation breaks out between the two. Dorothee enjoys the evening to the full. Niko meets the pretty ballet student Jenny at the youth club RC, with whom he immediately falls in love. Unfortunately, Jenny remains very reserved, yet.

Dorothee Berger has spent the night with her chance acquaintance Paul in the hotel. She is surprised at herself, she would not have thought herself capable of so much spontaneity. At home, Dorothee is impatiently awaited by her sons Julian and Niko and husband Clemens. Although Dorothee also has a guilty conscience, she does not put up with Clemens' reproaches for long. Niko has stolen photos from his older brother Julian, who is a good amateur photographer, and given them to the colored journalist Sammy, who works for a youth magazine and wants to use the pictures for the exhibition "Faces of a City". Niko wants to impress the ballet student Jenny, with whom he has fallen in love, with his dancing skills at the youth club. Jenny is indeed impressed; she is also attracted to Niko. Because she has only received rejections on her applications to become a doctor, Dorothee temporarily works in the modeling agency of her friend Hanna Hassencamp. There she unexpectedly meets Paul, who turns out to be Hanna's lover.

Mike is turned in to his parents by the police. He stole the headmaster's car, drove without a license, and ended up parking the car in the goldfish pond. Matthias hopes to settle the matter with a generous donation to the boarding school. In fact, the school principal refrains from pressing charges after Matthias announces a new Bechstein grand piano as a gift. But Mike doesn't want to return to the boarding school at all, and he doesn't want to give any more piano concerts. He wants to make his own music from now on: "Chopin is out". Matthias is so angry with his son that his hand almost slips. Patrick installs a dart corner in his youth club RC, which is immediately very popular. Reluctantly, Patrick's girlfriend Esther notices his obvious interest in the attractive journalist Sammy. A dart almost hits him in the eye.

While Matthias Hassencamp reacts with complete incomprehension to his son Mike's decision to drop out of piano lessons and not return to the music boarding school, his wife Hanna tries to understand Mike. He obviously feels shunted off to boarding school. Although Mike sticks to his decision to make only his own music now, Hanna is at least able to persuade him not to cancel the concert on the coming Sunday. Hanna decides to separate the two squabblers and temporarily place Mike in her modeling agency. Mike, however, is not at all happy with this and suddenly shows up at Dorothee Berger's penthouse and wants to spend the night there. After all, the penthouse belongs to Hassencamps. John Winslow, computer specialist and friend of the Bergers, offers to help Dorothee financially at any time. He finds it untenable that Dorothee, a trained doctor, is working in a modeling agency. Dorothee is pleased with the offer, but declines it so as not to strain her friendship with John. Her decision to divorce Clemens is now final. Clemens had hoped that Dorothee and he would come to terms again, despite his affair with Sue. Julian is happy about his mother's clear decision. After all, his father stole his girlfriend, and he doesn't want to have anything more to do with him either.

Mike is temporarily staying with the Bergers in the penthouse; his egotistical nature causes all kinds of trouble. Dr. Falk, to whom Dorothee has applied as a doctor, wants to drop by the penthouse in the afternoon. Niko, who believes his mother will be at the agency until late in the evening, has spontaneously organized a party for Jenny. It comes as it must come: Dorothee is delayed, Dr. Falk unexpectedly bursts into the party and is horrified by the hullabaloo there, and Dorothee sees her chances of getting a clinic job dwindling. But that's not all: Matthias once again tries to talk to Hanna. And this time Dorothee has a hard time covering for her friend, because Matthias unexpectedly shows up at her door.

Dorothee once again manages to save the dicey situation with Matthias, who is about to catch Hanna with her lover, for the sake of her friend and skillfully distracts him. Matthias seeks a clarifying discussion with his son - but Mike doesn't want to hear about his proposal to resume piano studies with a first-class professor in Cologne. Dorothee also seeks a discussion with her friend. She doesn't want to have to continue lying to Matthias in order to save Hanna's skin - the confrontation comes when she tells her friend that she herself spent a night with her lover Dr. Steiner. Hanna decides to teach Dr. Steiner a lesson. There is also discord between Mike and Julian. It comes to a head when Julian surprises Mike with a girl in his bed. Dorothee does not share his indignation, but on the contrary shows understanding for Mike. Julian gives her the choice between him and Mike and decides to move in with his friend John.

Dr. Steiner does not let up - he persistently courts Hanna's love. Matthias seeks the proximity of his wife - only to find her in flagranti at her reconciliation celebration with Dr. Steiner. A physical confrontation ensues. And now Hanna finally finds the strength to separate from her lover. Julian shows Sammy his latest photos at the RC. She obviously likes them - almost as much as Patrick, the owner of the RC, who has been courting her for a while. Julian and John live together very well. The two support each other wherever they can. In the evening there is a discussion between Hanna and Mike - but when he finds out about Hanna's affair with another man, he takes his father's side and breaks with Hanna.

In an old tradition, the family council is called to discuss the damage Niko and his buddy Mike have done to the mill. The shocked parents suspect that Niko can't handle their separation. Even Julian allows himself to be persuaded by Niko to meet with the parents. At the end of the conversation, Dorothee and Clemens decide to try again for the sake of their children. This is most painful for Clemens' lover Sue, who - quite rightly - does not believe that it is concern for the children that is driving Clemens back to Dorothee. But their first evening together in the penthouse turns out quite differently than Clemens had imagined. Dorothee can't simply forget his affair with Sue and feel like a loving wife again. She keeps him at a distance and asks him to give her time. Matthias Hassencamp also needs time, as the rift with his wife gnaws away at him. Several times he tries to see and talk to Hanna - but again and again he loses his courage.

At the family council, Dorothee and Clemens realize how much Niko is suffering from their planned divorce and that he desperately needs the support of the family. Niko thinks it's wonderful that Dorothee and Clemens now want to try it again with each other - his brother Julian, however, not so much. He angrily gets his frustration off his chest with his friend John: first his father ruins his relationship and then he takes away his new refuge, the penthouse. For Julian it is clear: As long as his father lives there, he will not enter it. John takes Julian comfortingly in his arms - but a tad too long .

Dorothee and Clemens have become more estranged than either of them wants to admit. Dorothee has the greater difficulties with living together again, and then Clemens is back on the street. Since Sue doesn't want to know anything about him at the moment either, Clemens decides to leave Cologne to take on a construction project in Paris. After John has comforted Julian a bit too tenderly, a conflict is brewing between the two. Julian reacts more than displeased to John's behavior and distracts himself by flirting with Laura. When he takes her out for the night, John reacts irritably and puts Laura on blast. A discussion between the friends provides only a short time for relaxation. When Julian reappears in the evening with Laura in the apartment, John makes him such a jealous scene that Laura disappears. Enraged by this, Julian accuses John of being gay. John fights back with his hands against this impropriety.

The black eye that John got from Julian suddenly cools down the heated feelings of both of them. Julian apologizes, but John is no longer at all sure of his feelings, even if he doesn't show any of them to the outside world. Meanwhile, the waves in the Hassencamp house are running high. Hanna has decided to bury the hatchet between herself and Matthias. She has long since regretted her infidelity with the attractive Dr. Steiner and forgiven Matthias for his violent outbursts. A surprise party is supposed to draw a line under the quarrel - but it doesn't work: Mike coincidentally shows up at home on the same evening and promptly gets into another argument with his father, who still doesn't want to accept that Mike wants to give up his piano training. Enraged, Mike leaves his parents' house. And even Hanna can't calm down the enraged Matthias .

A valuable painting has disappeared during the party, and Hanna can't figure out who could have stolen it. But before the friends can discuss the problem in detail, a new one is already brewing. A young girl is urgently seeking a modeling job from Hanna. The pictures she has brought with her as proof of her professionalism show her scantily clad - To make matters worse, she owes the photographer of these pictures a considerable sum. Dorothee recognizes in the girl the daughter of the sympathetic and extremely amiable lawyer Grasshoff, Mia. Together with her father, Dorothee and Hanna try to put a stop to the disgusting photographer. However, the photographer has a trump card in his hand, with which he sweeps all suspicions of doing illicit business with minors off the table: a contract on which Marius' signature is emblazoned - Meanwhile, John Winslow spends a wonderful evening with the attractive Rebecca. The two flirt exuberantly with each other - but Rebecca's feminine charms fail when she is in bed with John. Rebecca shows understanding. Niko, Dorothee's son, is of a completely different nature. He can hardly wait to sleep with Jenny and doesn't notice how much Jenny suffers from his badgering.

Rebecca has snuggled up close to John when he wakes up. Embarrassed and uncertain, he detaches himself from her. Although he finds Rebecca very nice, he ends the relationship. Marius Grasshoff thanks Hanna and Dorothee for their help in matters with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Annoyed, Dorothee registers that the flowers are meant for Hanna and, through a deliberate clumsiness, causes the vase to topple over onto Marius' pants. Marius is more than perplexed, since the actual reason for his visit was to invite Dorothee to an Italian restaurant. Reconciled, Dorothee accepts the invitation. When Marius wants to reserve a table in the restaurant, he discovers a newspaper with the headline: "Baby prostitution is booming". Underneath is a photo of his daughter Mia. There is no trace of her at home. But Marius finds a copy of the newspaper next to the plundered household cash.

Marius Grasshoff is completely distraught: Mia has disappeared. The newspaper in which her photo was published in connection with the Cologne baby prostitution is lying in the kitchen. The empty household cash box next to it. Desperate, Marius rings Dorothee out of bed, who immediately mobilizes Mike and Niko to look for the girl. The two have just set off when a rather drunk Mia is delivered to Marius by a detective. She had been so ashamed of the photo that she wanted to run away. At the train station, she came across a group of sprayers who were willing to spray their likenesses on the front page of all the newspapers in exchange for a beer. The fact that later trains were also the target of the spray attacks, Mia can only remember darkly. The next morning, Dorothee hears about Hanna's suspicion that Mike might have stolen his parents' valuable May. When they can't find the painting in Mike's room, Hanna believes one of her co-workers at the party has been seduced. Hanna immediately calls her people together to get this uncomfortable topic off the table. She is more than embarrassed to hear from Julian that Mike recently sold him the painting. Meanwhile, Jenny tries to wring permission from her parents to spend a weekend with Niko. She resorts to the white lie of wanting to attend a training weekend. Fearing that her parents will call her ballet coach, Viviane Dierbach, she tries to get her to cover her fib. To her horror, however, Mrs. Dierbach refuses.

When Niko learns from Jenny that nothing will come of their weekend together, he reacts more than indignantly. Only when Patrick thoroughly cleans his head does he realize his insensitive behavior and goes to Jenny's ballet school to apologize. Tentatively, he also introduces himself to Mrs. Dierbach, who immediately finds the young man likable, so that she decides to give the young love the protective backing after all, in case Jenny's mother should call. The day also brings a few surprises for Dorothee, who is given the chance to finally work in a doctor's office again. Dr. Paul Steiner's receptionist is ill, and Dorothee eagerly takes over as her replacement. At the end of this eventful day, another surprise awaits her: Mia Grasshoff visits her at the practice to invite her to dinner that same evening on her father's behalf, but without him knowing. When Dorothee rings the Grasshoffs' doorbell a little later, she is presented with a very bizarre picture when Marius opens the door.

Dorothee rings Marius' doorbell in a good mood - she was delighted with the spontaneous invitation. She is all the more surprised by the elevator in which Marius opens the door for her. His jogging pants and the laundry basket in his hands indicate that he obviously wasn't expecting her. This evening also brings Mike Hassencamp luck, because his father shows up at the RC to make him a peace offering. He is now willing to pay him alimony without insisting that he continue his piano training. However, he would be very happy if Mike could return the "May" he took from his parents' apartment. Immediately Mike tries to buy the painting back from Julian, but with little success, because Julian has not forgotten that he moved out of the penthouse because of him. As a small revenge for this, he now demands a surcharge of 500 marks. Matthias agrees to pay Mike the difference, but makes it conditional on him continuing his piano training. Matthias is correspondingly angry when Hanna wants to hang the painting in its place a little later. Julian had sold it back to her at the old price. Once again, Hanna and Matthias get into a heated argument over Mike. Hanna goes back to her agency, where she is watching Julian, who is posing for a brand-new job. She is only too happy to accept Julian's suggestion to celebrate his first modeling job with a good meal. The two spend a happy evening together. Perhaps it is due to the champagne that Julian suddenly kisses Hanna.

After the atmospheric dinner, Julian has taken Hanna home. Julian would like to have another cup of coffee, but Hanna categorically refuses. She does not want to allow what is about to happen. In memory of the beautiful evening, Julian gives her his talisman, an amber. But he does not give up. He persistently continues to woo Hanna. And Hanna can't help but admit that she too has taken a liking to Julian. Niko and Jenny's weekend together continues to be ill-fated, even though it initially seems so good. Niko doesn't press Jenny, but is completely attuned to her. Elated and happy, the two set off for home again. They have no idea what has happened at home in the meantime. Jenny had forgotten her ballet shoes in her room. Her mother then calls after her and learns from a ballet student that there is no training camp at all. When Jenny arrives home, her raging father opens the door. The ballet shoes swing triumphantly in his hands.

Jenny's father lashes out at his daughter in blind rage. Niko, who had accompanied Jenny home, hears from the outside what is going on at the Wischnewskis'. When Jenny's little brother Klaus rushes out of the apartment in a panic, Niko takes the opportunity to throw himself between father and daughter. For Niko it is incomprehensible that Jenny does not want his help and sends him away. He shows up at the RC in a correspondingly bad mood. Only when Jenny shows up does his mood change again. One thing is clear to him: Jenny must not go home. Meanwhile, Hanna is just as determined to convince Julian that they cannot become a couple. She returns the photo montage that Julian had put in her office. Dorothee and Marius are amazed when they find Jenny and Niko in the living room. Niko announces to the stunned that Jenny will live in the penthouse from now on.

Nico is outraged by the behavior of Jenny's father. Together with Marius Grasshoff, Dorothee succeeds in calming her upset son Nico and persuading him to take a sensible approach. So they visit Jenny's parents together and learn the sad story of the Wischnewski family. It almost comes to a scandal. Undaunted, Nico and Jenny plan for a common future and do not always have the same views. Julian laments his world-weariness to John and, through his modeling activities, gets more and more into an emotional vortex with Hanna, his mother's best friend.

Mrs. Geisler, Steiner's receptionist, announces her return, so Dorothee is only allowed two more days to get a taste of the practice. Unfortunately, Paul Steiner is not very keen on Dorothee's idea of opening a group practice, so she quickly has to look for something new. But Dorothee has no luck with the medical association either. Too little professional experience bars her from returning to her profession as a doctor. Meanwhile, Hanna has prepared everything for a first date with Julian. She has given her agency staff the all clear, and the champagne is waiting in the fridge. But while tenderly being together with Julian she gets afraid of her own courage. Photographer Jimmy is supposed to save the day, but Julian sees through Hanna's game and leaves the agency, offended.

Dr. Steiner makes Dorothee a peace offering: with a rose and champagne, he appears at her door to reconcile with her. They bury their quarrel with a friendly kiss, not noticing that Marius is watching them. The mood at the rowing club is testy. Beate and Sammy get into a fistfight, which John has trouble settling. Patrick demonstratively takes Sammy's side. He has no idea what the consequences will be. A letter from Clemens in Paris confronts Dorothee once again with her marriage and the issue of divorce. But she has long since made up her mind.

Dark clouds are gathering around Mike. He feels deceived by his stepmother Hanna and pressured by his father. He dreams of making the breakthrough to great freedom with his music. But this dream leads him away from his family and also away from his friends. At the RC, Sammy and Beate clash. Patrick regrets his "relapse", the one night with Beate, and Beate, thus repudiated, swears revenge. Dorothee is in for a pleasant surprise: Paul Steiner offers her to take over his practice during his vacation. But will she be up to the challenge? She is so preoccupied with this question that she doesn't even notice how conspicuously her friend Hanna is raving about Julian as an up-and-coming model.

Dorothee is introduced to patient treatment by Dr. Steiner. When Dorothee refuses to prescribe the strong sleeping pill to her first patient, she and Dr. Steiner fall out. The receptionist, Mrs. Geisler, is also not at all pleased with Dorothee's different style of working. In addition, there are some misunderstandings with Marius, and Dorothee has no support from her sons at the moment. In this difficult situation, the helpless Hanna asks her to mediate between her husband and her stepson. Matthias is furious with Mike and stubbornly insists on his opinionated position. Even Dorothee does not succeed in dissuading him from his hard stance. Meanwhile, Mike gets involved with a shady music band. At the RC, he introduces them to Patrick as his new friends and wants to perform there with them. However, Mike's plans are abruptly thwarted.