Inga Lindström: Die Frau am Leuchtturm (2006)

Victoria Savander works for the writer Nils Schalin and is also having an affair with him, which Nils’s daughter Ebba—Victoria’s best friend—knows nothing about. Nils impulsively decides to take Victoria on a trip to southern France, but cancels at the last minute because his wife has other plans. At the airport, as Victoria is about to get into a taxi, she meets an attractive man who was about to take the same taxi. Later, outside her front door, she is looking for her key when the same man suddenly appears behind her. He introduces himself as Kristoffer Lund, a lawyer, and asks Victoria to fly with him to Eggesund immediately. Apparently, a man named Hannes Linnarson has named her as his heir, though she has never heard of him. Kristoffer leaves her in the dark about what she has inherited. When they arrive, Victoria learns that she has inherited a lighthouse. She can hardly believe what is happening and looks for the catch. Kristoffer meets with Henner Linnarson, the deceased man’s nephew, who still cannot understand why his uncle left the lighthouse to Victoria. He thinks it should belong to him and his sister, Lena. Henner goes to Victoria and claims that she is not entitled to the inheritance. He threatens to contest the will. Kristoffer brings Victoria some food at the lighthouse. She actually wants to leave, but a little persuasion and a call from Nils change her mind. Now she wants to spend the night alone in the lighthouse. The next day, she visits Hannes Linnarson’s grave with Kristoffer, hoping to find answers to her questions. There she meets Lena, Hannes’s niece. Lena owns a bookshop in Eggesund and sells Nils Schalin’s books. Afterwards, when Victoria sees an unfamiliar woman at Kristoffer’s house, she immediately wants to return to Stockholm. But then Ebba suddenly turns up in Eggesund and persuades Victoria to stay. Henner arrives at the lighthouse with hotel owner Karl Gunnarson and talks about wanting to sell the lighthouse to him. Ebba gets help from Kristoffer, who makes it clear to Henner and Karl that the lighthouse belongs to Victoria. A storm has broken a window overnight, so Victoria has to stay another day. Kristoffer therefore invites her on an outing. Once Ebba is back in Stockholm, she tells her father that Victoria is not coming back yet, and he becomes very angry. Victoria and Kristoffer grow closer that evening and kiss, but she begins to doubt whether what she is doing is right. Even so, she later invites him to the lighthouse, and they sleep together. The next morning, Erik Olsson brings the repaired window. Victoria tries to ask him about Hannes, but he knows no more. Nils unexpectedly turns up at Kristoffer’s and wants to know where Victoria is. She is surprised when Nils suddenly appears in front of her. He talks to her for so long that she gives in and agrees to return to Stockholm with him. When she tells Kristoffer that she has decided to reject the inheritance after all, he is confused. He now tries to persuade her to stay. He finds out that she is having an affair with Nils. Although the night with Kristoffer meant a lot to her, she leaves him. While Victoria packs her things in the lighthouse, Nils browses through the books and finds a photograph of a man with a young woman. He takes it with him. Kristoffer informs Henner and Lena of Victoria’s decision. Back in Stockholm, Nils takes advantage of Victoria’s good nature, and everything goes back to the way it was. Ebba tries to convince Victoria that she is wasting her precious life on Nils and will ultimately be left unhappy. Victoria happens to find the photograph Nils took; she recognizes her mother in it. She returns to Eggesund and gets confirmation that the man in the photograph is Hannes. Erik tells Victoria things about her mother that she did not know, including that her mother unexpectedly left Hannes for her father. Victoria goes to her mother because she now wants to know what happened. She shows her the photograph, but her mother wants nothing more to do with it. When Victoria is about to return to the lighthouse, she runs into Henner. He tells her he no longer wants the lighthouse because he cannot solve his problems. She tells him there must be a connection between her and Hannes, since he knew her mother. When Nils calls her, she quits working for him and makes it clear that she does not want to see him for a while. Henner goes to Kristoffer and asks for help because Karl Gunnarson is blackmailing him. Then he gets a call from Mona, who is currently staying with him. He gave her shelter because her husband, Markus, had become violent. Henner manages to calm things down and send Markus away. Afterwards, when Kristoffer goes fishing, he sees that Victoria is back at the lighthouse. She learns from him that Mona is neither his girlfriend nor his wife. Then Ebba calls her because Nils has tried to take his own life. Kristoffer flies her straight to Stockholm. There, she realizes that it was Nils’s last desperate attempt to win her back. But he accepts that he has lost her. Victoria returns to Eggesund to be with Kristoffer and begins writing books of her own, successfully.