Einmal Frühling und zurück (2014)

In the small Bavarian village of “Frühling,” village helper Katja Baumann looks after Charlize Gathman, a single mother who is temporarily struggling to manage everyday life after a psychological breakdown. The young woman came to Germany from South Africa with her husband, Philipp Forster. After their marriage fell apart, she regretted making that move. She is also deeply distressed by how much their son Gary is suffering because of his parents’ separation. Katja tries to run the household for Charlize and witnesses just how badly the former couple’s relationship has broken down. As a custody battle looms, Gary’s father obtains an injunction preventing his ex-wife from taking their son to South Africa. Since Charlize’s father is seriously ill and she needs to return, she leaves Gary in Katja’s care. Apparently, the boy wants nothing to do with his father. Katja, however, gets the impression that, contrary to Charlize’s claim, Gary’s father cares deeply about his son. Philipp Forster takes the opportunity to spend a lot of time with his child and, with his mother out of the way, convince the boy how much he means to him. Katja allows Forster to go on a climbing trip alone with his son. When Gary suffers a serious fall during the trip, Forster blames himself enormously, especially because he fears Charlize now has another reason to prevent him from getting custody. When Charlize returns from South Africa, she is outraged. In particular, she objects that Katja clearly overstepped her authority by entrusting Gary to his father. But Katja wouldn’t be Katja if she couldn’t convince Gary’s mother that the boy needs his father. For her son’s sake, Charlize abandons her decision to return to South Africa with Gary. In Katja’s personal life, things ease between her and veterinarian Mark Weber. They get along very well by now, but their relationship is still purely friendly. He impresses both Katja and her daughter Kiki by giving Kiki an old car as a gift. After getting over her disappointment with her boyfriend Matze, Kiki befriends Sam, a young painter.