Based on the bestselling biography: Entertainer Horst Lichter has barely had time to relax on his holiday when his mother calls him. In her own dry way, she tells him that she has been diagnosed with cancer and that things are not going well for her. Immediately Horst returns to his hometown with his wife Nada. Returning home brings back childhood memories - of a loving father and a mother who held the reins firmly in difficult situations. Horst tries his best to support his mother Margret - he organises doctor's appointments and tries to provide a little variety into her daily life, even though the relationship between mother and son has been strained for a long time: he counters his mother's edgy, frosty manner as he had learned to do when he was young. He emphasises the positive side of any situation and is always ready to respond with a snappy retort. When Margret learns how serious her illness really is, Horst begins to rethink his own life as well.
Hanna, who works with her husband Martin at a Hamburg shipyard, is to be promoted to Deputy Managing Director. Enthusiastically, she accepts the job. But her boss Bernd Möller aims at closing the yard and uses Hanna for his perfidious plans. It must enforce unpopular decisions that affect Martin's work. It does not take long for her private and family life to be seriously harmed by the workload. Not only the future of the company, but also the marriage of Hanna and Martin is at stake
Just when Lena, a single parent in her thirties, finally decided to move in with her new boyfriend Felix, Lena's mother Elisabeth turns up in surprise. She lodges with her daughter and whirls their lives together. The film tells a story of generational conflicts and love concerns, of the search for security and the normal, wonderful madness, which one calls "family", in a pointed mixture of turbulent love romance and smart mother-daughter duel.
Because of shoplifting and property damage Jessie Fischer, a single mother with a rather big mouth, is sentenced to charitable work in a nursing home. There she meets Walter Voss, known as the General. The fate of the grumpy pensioner, who was disenfranchised by his adult children and deported to the home, touches her and she decides to fight for him. But when the general's expensive pocket watch disappears, Jessie, already convicted of theft, is suspected. But the general stops by and they both embark on an adventurous journey to the sea.
