This critically-acclaimed drama focuses on the Drombuschs, an average German family living in Darmstadt near Frankfurt. Siegfried, the father, runs an antique shop, while his wife Vera looks after their home and the three children, Chris, Marion, and Thommy. Chris is a dutiful police officer who marries the complicated Tina, daughter of a wealthy family, but his sister can't handle her life after she gives birth to Daniel and becomes a single mom. Siegfried's mother moves in and annoys the whole family. After a while, Vera and Siegfried buy and start to renovate an old mill, but the financial problems and stress are too much for Siegfried, who dies after a heart attack. At this difficult time, Vera is supported by Uncle Ludwig, a relative who suddenly turns up and secretly falls in love with her while she starts a disappointing relationship with journalist Martin Sanders, whose wife Brigitte tries to destroy their love. Over the next years, Chris is killed by a hooligan and Tina must raise her adopted Black son; Marion has an affair with a pander, but finally finds her true love. In the last episode, Vera follows a frustrated Ludwig to Mauritius, while Marion discovers that the mill is burning down with her grandmother inside.
