Die Flut - Tod am Deich (2023)

Iven is a farmhand who, after a storm-surge night on the North Sea coast in the village of Stegebüll in 2007, takes the autistic little Wienke Haien to Hamburg and leaves her outside a children’s home. Iven himself ends up working as a bouncer in St. Pauli. Wienke is the daughter of the dyke reeve Hauke Haien and his wife Elke; she was the only one in her family to survive the flood. According to a newspaper report, a total of twelve people drowned in the storm surge on November 13, 2007. Fifteen years later, Wienke, who was called Elisabeth Schmidt at the home, turns up at Iven’s again after accidentally spotting him in a television report and recognizing his voice. She wants to learn more about her origins. Iven, Hauke Haien’s foster son, is supposed to accompany her to Stegebüll. Short of money, the formerly convicted Iven accepts the job, although he suspects that he and Wienke will be met with rejection on their return. In fact, the former mayor, Ole Peters, is far from pleased by the arrival of the daughter of his old adversary. Stegebüll has since been incorporated into another municipality, so it no longer has its own mayor. According to Tjark Niss, from the Niss inn and wellness hotel, Hauke would have gone to prison if he had survived the flood, because the system he had built could not withstand the pressure. The Haien farm is now occupied by Ole Peters, the next surviving relative, after Wienke was declared dead at the time. In a flashback, we learn that Iven’s teenage crush, Ann-Grethe, Ole’s daughter, had an affair with Hauke Haien. Seventeen-year-old Ann-Grethe was pregnant by Hauke at the time; he forced her to have an abortion, and she hated him for it. Ole knew about it. While Wienke befriends the postman, Sten, Ann-Grethe and Iven grow closer. A DNA test confirms that Elisabeth Schmidt and Wienke Haien are the same person. Iven stops Ole from taking his own life with a rifle. Ole tells him about the night of the flood, when he found Ann-Grethe in the pumping station above Hauke’s body, which was floating in the water. They might still have been able to save him, but Ann-Grethe was consumed by hatred, and Ole says he was afraid of her. Tjark Niss tells Iven that Ann-Grethe had picked Wienke up for a horseback-riding trip. Ann-Grethe leaves Wienke alone in the middle of the Wadden Sea and rides away. Iven manages to find Wienke and bring her back to shore. On the night of the flood, Elke Haien had gone to her husband once more. According to Ole, Hauke’s technical innovation at the time was not yet fully developed, although it is standard today.