Für immer Frühling (2011)

Katja Baumann is a popular nurse at a Munich hospital. One day, as she is leaving work, she meets little Tim Lechner, unaware that this will mark the beginning of an entirely new chapter in her life. She has just submitted a request to take all her annual leave so she can go on a six-week trip with her husband, Peter. After he hints that he would like to postpone the trip for work-related reasons, Katja spontaneously decides to help Inge Lechner, a cancer patient. Inge is a single mother with two other children besides Tim. While she is away, the children are looked after by a village care worker, but they do not get along with her. When Katja arrives in the small village of Frühling, she meets the veterinarian Mark Weber, who has just come from Leipzig and wants to settle there. With his help, she finds the Lechners’ farm after a long search and meets the village care worker, Britta Finkbeiner. Britta tells her about her varied work and the problems she has with the Lechner children. Katja had already met Tim when he visited his mother in the hospital. Even then, he trusted her and asked her to stay with them. Deeply affected by the Lechners’ situation, Katja decides to give up her vacation and support the family. At first, village care worker Britta Finkbeiner is skeptical and feels somewhat bypassed. She also doubts Katja’s ability to run a farm, but she respects Inge Lechner’s wishes and leaves Katja in charge of the farm and the children. Katja quickly manages to connect with sixteen-year-old Danni Lechner, something Britta Finkbeiner had been unable to do the entire time. Katja recognizes the problem the girl is struggling with: Danni feels abandoned by everyone. First her father died, then her grandmother left the farm, and now she is alone with her fear that her mother might leave her forever, too. After an operation, Inge Lechner’s condition deteriorates to the point that she falls into a coma. On top of these worries, there are financial difficulties. Katja asks her husband, who is a lawyer, to arrange legal protection to avert imminent enforcement proceedings. Katja also contacts the bank. While working at the Lechner farm, she crosses paths again with veterinarian Mark Weber, who makes advances toward her. However, she makes it unmistakably clear that they can only become good friends. Nevertheless, he looks after Katja, the farm, and the animals almost every day, and even manages to prevent the enforcement proceedings and the seizure of the animals with a veterinary trick. Meanwhile, Katja tries to get in touch with Therese Lechner, the children’s grandmother, and appeals to her conscience. She succeeds, and the embittered woman finally turns her attention back to her grandchildren. While Katja is in Frühling, far from Munich, a brief visit home reveals that her husband Peter is cheating on her. Although he asks his wife to forgive him, she promptly leaves Munich for good and settles in Frühling, where she will henceforth work as a village care worker. Mark Weber has several spare rooms in his large house, so Katja rents one from him.