Mama ist die Best(i)e (2026)

Gloria Almeda, owner of the A. Almeda sparkling-wine cellar, is released from prison after serving ten years for commissioning the murder of her husband, Victor. Victor died in an explosion at the garden shed, while his lover, Desirée Fischer, survived with serious injuries. Gloria was sentenced to 15 years based on circumstantial evidence. In prison, she hatched a plan to take revenge after her release. She wants to find out who really murdered her husband and framed her for the crime. She suspects the culprit is someone in the family, because Victor was a despot who gave every family member a reason to hate him. After her early release, she is confined to the family villa by an electronic ankle monitor. The family consists of her two children, Leonie and Severin; Victor’s wife, Stella, and her daughter, Gretchen; and Gloria’s brother-in-law, Gaston. Martha Besl has worked for the family as housekeeper and cook for 25 years, and she also had an affair with Victor. Severin suggests that the other family members provoke Gloria so she violates her parole conditions and is sent back to prison. During her imprisonment, Gloria befriended two fellow inmates: Henriette “Henny” Baumann, who now works as the family’s housekeeper, and Maria Berthieu, who works as Gaston’s assistant. The family does not know about these connections. After an argument with Gloria, Martha Besl is fired by her. Before her incarceration, Gloria was friends with Bernadette Pfeifer, whose husband Tono she had an affair with. Tono was also Gloria’s lawyer. Before Desirée met Victor, she was friends with Severin, who was jealous. Leonie had told Stella that she planned to kill her father because he thought both his children were failures. Severin, too, had discussed plans with Leonie to kill their father. Stella and Leonie have been in a romantic relationship for several years. Gaston had offered Stella the head of the marketing department in exchange for a favor. According to Regula Fritsch, the investigator on the case at the time, Jakub Buszek, who died in the explosion, was supposed to have received 10,000 euros for killing Victor. Buszek’s wife was then employed as a housekeeper by Bernadette Pfeifer. Shortly before his death, Victor had put 15 million aside; Gaston now has the money. It came from Tono, but Victor had claimed the loss as a bad investment. Victor knew about Gloria and Tono’s affair, though Bernadette did not. Victor had blackmailed Tono with this knowledge. According to Gaston, Victor transferred the properties to Gloria because the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Gaston wanted to take over the management and had hinted that Victor would then no longer be around. Bojana Buszek, the widow of Jakub Buszek, the contract killer at the time, is found dead on the Almedas’ estate. Gloria tells investigator Regula Fritsch that she paid Jakub 5,000 euros, but then changed her mind and told him she no longer wanted his services. It is possible that someone else paid a further 5,000 euros so that Buszek would carry out the contract after all. Tono had actually wanted to start a new life with Gloria, using the profit from his investment in Victor, which Victor had embezzled. Tono is dependent on his wife because everything belongs to her, including his law firm. Maria had secretly installed surveillance cameras in Gaston’s apartment. On the night Mrs. Buszek was murdered, Gloria received a call from Maria Berthieu—whose real name is Maria Mabouka—saying that Gaston was on his way to the Almedas’ estate with a loaded gun. Maria, who also heads to the estate, is knocked unconscious that night. Buszek was bludgeoned to death with a brick, although Gaston could have shot her with his own gun. Bernadette had discovered that Tono and Gloria were having an affair. To get revenge on Gloria, Bernadette had instructed her husband to make sure Jakub Buszek carried out the contract to kill Victor after all. Tono was supposed to frame Gloria for the contract killing. Stella tells the Pfeifers that the 15 million they thought Victor had lost in bad investments is now in Gaston’s possession. When her son was eight years old, Gloria forgot him in a boutique. Wilma Fischer, Desirée’s mother, took care of him then. Severin wanted to stay with Wilma permanently. Tono plans to leave his wife and start a new life. During an argument between the two, Bernadette slips by the pool, hits her head on the edge, and dies. In the burnt-out remains of the garden shed, Gloria finds a firearm the police did not find at the time. She believes it proves that Buszek intended to shoot Victor and had never planned to blow them both up. Maria takes Gaston hostage and drives to the Almedas’ estate with two bags full of money, where she gathers the family together. There, Maria and Henny confront Stella, Leonie, and Severin with the 15 million Gaston embezzled. Tono confesses to Regula Fritsch that his wife knew about his affair with Gloria. According to Tono, Bernadette then hired the contract killer to get revenge on Gloria for the affair and on Victor for the loss of the 15 million. Tono admits to Gloria that he himself hired the contract killer because his wife was blackmailing him. Bruises on Bernadette’s thigh are found to have been caused by a collision with a taxi when she was following Bojana on her way to the family villa. Bernadette had been at Bojana’s apartment and threatened her, after which Bojana went to Gloria, hoping to turn what she knew into money. Bernadette eventually murdered Bojana at the Almedas’ estate. Tono is taken into pretrial detention on suspicion of complicity in the Victor Almeda case and of murdering his wife. Gloria visits Wilma to thank her for taking care of her son. Desirée tells Gloria that she had wanted to leave Victor back then because she realized he was only using her to humiliate his family. Gretchen shows Fritsch and Gloria the room where Stella, Severin, and Leonie had worked on the bomb that blew up the garden shed; the blueprints and detonator are still there. When Jakub Buszek ran toward the garden shed to shoot Victor, Leonie pressed the bomb’s detonator. Stella accuses Gaston of inciting the three of them to commit the act. In private, Gloria tries to negotiate with Fritsch, since she has already served time for the murder her children committed. In return, her children are to forgive her for being a bad mother—or, as she calls herself, a “beast”—and Gloria forgives Fritsch for sending her to prison for ten years even though she was innocent. Gloria throws Gaston out of the company and reconciles with her children. Stella and Leonie go on vacation, while Gretchen stays with her grandmother. Severin goes to be with his Desirée, and Henny and Maria receive a bag full of money.