Die Reise nach Sundevit (1966)

The boy Tim Tammer lives with his family in the small village of Möwenort. His father is a lighthouse keeper on the Baltic Sea. Tim is often alone, especially during the summer holidays. His friends are sand figures he has made, with whom he reenacts Treasure Island. One day, near the lighthouse, Tim meets a group of Pioneers who have pitched their tents on the beach. He befriends the group, including the teenagers Hermann and Addi, and is saddened when, after a few days, they plan to move on. They are planning to go to Sundevit and invite Tim to come along. Tim’s parents allow him to go; the trip is to begin at noon. Shortly beforehand, despite his father’s concerns about the time, Tim wants to take his friend, old Heinrich Bradenkuhl, the glasses he left behind in the lighthouse. Bradenkuhl works in Trempin, several kilometers away, and Tim hurries to the village by bicycle. There, he is in turn asked to take a hose for the LPG and drop it off in a village along his route. In that village, an old woman asks him to bring a jug of tea out to the field for her grandson Herbertchen, who is working with a combine harvester. Although Tim says he has no time, he does what she asks. Out in the field, the combine’s hose has just broken—the very one Tim had earlier delivered to the LPG. In desperation, Tim fetches the hose as well, then races back toward the lighthouse. He falls, denting his bicycle’s front wheel. The pessimistic carriage driver Brom gives Tim a ride to the lighthouse and blames him for his predicament: helping others is only worthwhile if you benefit from it yourself. Bradenkuhl could have remembered his glasses, and the old woman could have sent her grandson off to the field with the tea first thing in the morning. When Tim reaches the lighthouse, the Pioneer group is gone. They have left him a note telling him to catch up with them. Tim’s father also tells him that Addi and Hermann in particular insisted that Tim should join them. They plan to wait for him in Fährdorf until the last ferry leaves. But Fährdorf is 30 kilometers away, and it is already late, so Tim is told not to set off. After consulting his stone friends, Tim nevertheless sets out and leaves his parents a note. He hitchhikes a long way to Gresenhorst and intends to cover the final stretch to Fährdorf along the beach, since it is the shortest route. Suddenly, he comes to a barrier—the boundary of an NVA military training area. Determined, Tim climbs over the barbed-wire fence and starts running. Suddenly, he finds himself in the middle of a military exercise. Soldiers catch him and take him back to the local police in Gresenhorst. Tim is distraught because the last ferry will leave in 15 minutes, but the local police officer gives him a choice: return to the lighthouse or stay overnight in Gresenhorst and see what can be done the next morning. Tim first looks around Gresenhorst, hoping he might see one of the Pioneers. Instead, he runs into his acquaintance, the teenager Kalli, who is in Gresenhorst for a dance, owns a motorcycle, and really wants to flirt with a young woman. He promises to take Tim to Fährdorf by motorcycle in half an hour, but keeps him waiting longer. Although the last ferry has already left, Kalli eventually takes Tim to Fährdorf, where he spends the night on a dredger with some workers. They call Tim’s father and let him know where his son is. They have also learned that the Pioneers have pitched their tents 15 kilometers farther on and are not in Sundevit. They had already traveled that far the day before, and Tim believes they never waited for him at all. Disappointed, he stands at the harbor the next morning when Hermann suddenly appears behind him. The Pioneers were lucky enough to get a ride while hitchhiking, so they got farther the previous day than they had planned. They will not set out for Sundevit until the next day. Hermann has spoken with Tim’s father by phone, and his father has agreed that Tim may travel with the Pioneers if Hermann finds him. Happily, Tim joins Hermann.