Die Kanzlei - Reif für die Insel (2022)

Isabel von Brede had planned to go on holiday to Gran Canaria with her two employees and her partner, Markus Gellert, with whom she runs a law firm. But when she receives a “cry for help” from an old acquaintance, she sets off alone for the Baltic Sea. A few weeks earlier, her mother had withdrawn to an island there and, in the hotel owner Bruns’s view, was in danger of sliding into alcoholism. Marion von Brede is not very pleased to see her daughter, but Isabel is not so easily turned away. Although they have not had a particularly good relationship for years, Isa still feels responsible. To make matters worse, her mother is even taken into custody to sober up, leaving Isa with her hands full. She also has to help Bruns, whose hotel is to be forcibly vacated. Bruns was expropriated on the grounds that the land was needed for an island airfield. The local lawyer had advised against filing a lawsuit, as he thought it had little chance of success. By now, however, all deadlines for objections have passed. Bruns’s granddaughter sees the whole situation more positively: the municipality had offered a good price, so her grandfather could comfortably retire on the proceeds. But Bruns wants nothing to do with that; the hotel is a family legacy that cannot simply be given up. Isa gives him hope and says she will take care of things. She asks her partner, Markus Gellert, to make a few inquiries for her in Hamburg and then go on holiday alone; she will join him as soon as she can. But he promptly follows her to the island, as do Yasmin and Gudrun. Gellert has even already secured a postponement of the forced eviction, much to the displeasure of the island’s mayor, Knut Henningsen. Gellert unintentionally remains on a collision course with Henningsen because he supports Henningsen’s wife as she tries to stand up to her violent husband. Meanwhile, Yasmin and Gudrun explore the island and try to find out what lies behind the airfield project and what the islanders think of it. Isa also looks into the connections and contacts the publisher of the island journal. Little by little, it emerges that the main interest behind the airfield is not improving tourism, but a private investor. He has bribed all the decision-makers with his money and recruited a group of young people to run a drug-trafficking hub for him on the island, disguised as a marine biological research project. Bruns’s granddaughter Paula is among the young people, which explains why she had not supported her grandfather in his fight. Thanks to Isabel’s efforts, the expropriation is ultimately overturned and the airfield is not built. As the hotel is saved, a secret from Isa’s childhood comes to light, helping her understand many things in her life. As a child, Isabel spent every summer on the island and always felt more at ease there than at home with her disliked father. She had always felt like an outsider in her family, but here on the island she came alive. Her mother was also much more relaxed there. In her memories, Isa sees herself as a child in the hotel, but also her mother with a man. Only now does she understand that this man was the real reason for their regular holidays on the island. Heiko Welting was not only the great love of her mother; he is also Isa’s biological father. But since both of them were already married, their relationship had no future. A few weeks earlier, Welting’s wife had died, and Marion von Brede had hoped to pick up again where she had once been forced to leave off. But Welting had given Brede no reason to hope, which led to her excessive drinking. Although Isa is initially shocked, she manages to talk things through with her mother and make peace not only with her, but also with her past. Isa would also like to get to know her “new” father better, but the holiday is over, and for now it is time to return to the law firm in Hamburg.