ABSEITSFALLE is the story of Karin and Mike. They work at Perla, a washing machine manufacturer. She is a career woman, he is on the assembly line and plays for the factory soccer team. The company is owned by an American corporation. Until now it has been business as usual, but all of a sudden comes the news that 400 redundancies are needed if Perla is to survive. Suddenly, there is everything to play for. Written by Anonymous

A strange family: 17-year-old Phil lives with his mother and twin sister in an old mansion on the outskirts of town. When he returns from summer camp, the mood in the mansion has soured somehow. Phil doesn’t worry about it, hanging out with his best friend Kat instead. When he starts to feel attracted to a mysterious new student at school, Phil is plunged into emotional turmoil only exacerbated by the trouble at home.

This is a family story that covers thirty years in the life of the Freytag family (narrated by the grandson, Robert). When his grandfather returns from Russia in 1949, he becomes part of the German "economic miracle" by producing garden gnomes. Klaus, Robert's father, wants to become a writer. He marries Gisela who almost immediately gets pregnant with Robert - but the marriage doesn't work. Both parents abandon the child, and Robert goes on living with both pairs of grand parents. While his father belongs to the 1968 generation that rebels against their fathers he falls in love with the neighbor's's daughter Laura.

Christa is approaching her forties and has already been through a lot. She has high hopes for her relationship with Dieter, who, like her, is divorced. As she also gets on well with his children Andi and Marion, it's not long before Christa and her ten-year-old daughter move in with Dieter and their new family happiness seems complete - until Dieter brings his lover Kati home.