Frauchen und die Deiwelsmilch (2014)

Miri works at the City Bank in Hattenstein. She is blonde, and her extravagant style of dress always makes her seem interesting to men. But she is also very clever with numbers. The bank manager, Fourquet, is repeatedly astonished by how quickly she can spot accounting errors. Miri says it is as though the numbers speak to her. Her female colleagues think less of her, believing that she merely uses her feminine charms to get her way with her boss. One day, a wire-haired dachshund follows Miri all the way into the bank. Since he has clearly taken a liking to her, she takes him in and names him “Frauchen.” During a walk, she comes across the winery owner Bartolomä, dead on a park bench. When she and the police officer Nils Christian have to deliver the sad news that his father died of a heart attack while jogging, Christian is confused, because his father was supposed to be at a trade fair. He tells her that there had been growing disagreements between them. His father had become increasingly stubborn and simply refused to invest his money in modernizing the winery. Miri investigates at the bank and discovers that the winery is heavily in debt. His son is shocked, especially to learn that his father had planned to sell the Deiwelsmilch vineyard, for which a sales contract had already been prepared. Miri discovers that Hattenstein’s mayor is behind it, acting through the front company “Global Consort.” One of Miri’s personal problems involves her friend Nadja. Nadja is due to be deported back to Russia, and when Miri tries to persuade the mayor to help her, she has to use her feminine charms again. Just to get an appointment, she has to get involved with Kai, the mayor’s “right-hand man.” This gets her a lead about a hotel the mayor uses to channel money transfers, but the deportation halt does not seem to be working. She begins to suspect that more than mere bureaucracy is involved. Her suspicions deepen when an indiscreet remark angers the mayor and he gets her fired from the bank with immediate effect. Since Miri is getting nowhere with her private investigation, she decides to look around the Waldresidenz hotel. Because of her appearance, she is immediately taken for the expected temporary spa assistant. Her two new colleagues tell her that they also take care of their clients’ very special needs. For the time being, they assign Miri to work at the front desk. From there, she has a good view of the clientele, who often disappear into a room with the women for an “exotic massage.” In the course of her work, she also discovers that Bartolomä had met the mayor here shortly before his death, and that Nadja had very likely worked here too. So Miri talks to Nadja, who confesses that she killed Bartolomä. The mayor had gotten him drunk, hoping he would finally sign a contract. After Nadja had then taken care of Bartolomä, he died on her during sex. The mayor then dealt with the “disposal” of the body. Miri decides to confront the mayor, but he is out hunting. When he spots her in the woods, he fires a warning shot at her. Shaken, she flees to her car, where Frauchen is waiting to comfort her. That evening, bank manager Fourquet arranges to meet her because he needs someone to talk to. His district manager has forbidden him to give Christian Bartolomä a loan, even though he had already promised him one. Miri promises to help him. She therefore tries to learn something through Hoch- und Tiefbau-Weber, who is a regular guest at the hotel and is also connected to “Global Consort.” She manages to eavesdrop on a conversation and learns that there is a large oil deposit beneath the Deiwelsmilch vineyard. This means Christian Bartolomä can offer the loan the necessary security, and he will not have to sell the vineyard. Things also turn out well for Miri herself. The information she has about the mayor’s dealings gives her leverage over him, ensuring that Nadja can stay in Germany and that he abandons his plan to buy Deiwelsmilch. Fourquet gives Miri her old job back, and the male dachshund Frauchen stays with her too. She has found out that he actually belongs to the mayor, who had planned to shoot him because he was unfit for hunting.