Die Drei von der Müllabfuhr - Baby an Bord (2019)

During their daily route, garbage collectors Werner Träsch, Tarik Büyüktürk, and Ralle Schieber notice the smell of smoke coming from an apartment and go to investigate. They find the very young Marie Thieme, her sister Nele, and a baby. Nele had tried to dry some shoes in the oven. At the end of their shift, the men find a stroller in their depot with the infant inside—the same baby Werner, Tarik, and Ralle had seen that morning with Marie and Nele Thieme. They take the stroller to the apartment in question, but no one is there. Since Werner has arranged to go to the movies with Gabi from the snack bar, his two colleagues have to look after the child. But he is so late that it is too late for the movie. Shortly after, Tarik and Ralle arrive with the baby, and Werner changes its diaper. Some time later, another attempt to find someone at the Thiemes’ home fails as well. Werner considers calling the police, but Tarik and Ralle want to take care of the little one themselves for the time being. The trio fears the family could get into trouble with the youth welfare office for neglecting their duty of supervision. When 16-year-old Marie gets home that evening, Lea, her little daughter, is gone. Marie lives with her younger sister, seven-year-old Nele, and their father, Frank, who works as a taxi driver and is rarely home. Nele tells her that she took Lea to the garbage collectors because Marie has had no time for her at all since Lea was born. Marie runs to the Berlin municipal sanitation depot, but a tipsy gatekeeper doesn’t take her seriously. A little later, her father arrives and at least manages to get the gatekeeper to tell him when the garbage collectors’ first route starts in the early morning. But their supervisor, Rüdiger Dorn, issues a new work directive early the next morning, and chief dispatcher Gerald assigns a new daily route, foiling the trio’s plan to drop the baby off quickly at the Thiemes’ during their morning route. And so a garbage truck is seen driving through Berlin with a baby on board. Naturally, the police are informed, and they soon turn up; the public order office also gets involved. Werner and his friends know that Marie could get into serious trouble with the youth welfare office, so they hesitate to reveal what really happened. But events take their inevitable course: Mrs. Meysel, a social worker, steps in and causes a stir on all sides. In the end, however, they manage to find a solution that everyone involved can live with and that does right by little Lea.