Paradies in den Bergen (2004)

Katja Stern works as a senior newspaper editor and lives in Leipzig with her husband, Erik, and their twelve-year-old son, Christopher. After Christopher suffers an acute asthma attack, Katja’s friend and doctor, Dr. Maren, recommends that she take the boy to the mountains for two weeks while Erik stays in Leipzig to focus on his career at a law firm. Since Katja is responsible for the weekend edition, her superior, Berger, is not pleased about the arrangement. Katja promises, however, to keep doing her work by phone and online. At their destination in the Austrian mountains, the local mayor and owner of the Hotel Post, Marianne Diringer, is planning to build an alpine coaster. The biologist and farmer Johannes Assamer, who practices permaculture, opposes the project because it would destroy the mountain pastures. Katja meets Johannes at the Hotel Post. Since Christopher is interested in botany, Johannes shows him his farm, where Sepp also works. Christopher befriends Sepp’s granddaughter, Maria. Marianne talks with her mother about plans to marry Johannes. As Johannes and Katja grow closer, Marianne becomes jealous. Katja tells Johannes that she has always wanted to write a children’s book. Erik unexpectedly turns up at the hotel and tells his wife about a promotion that would come with double the salary but also mean moving to Prague. Erik suggests sending Christopher to boarding school in Leipzig. Katja opposes Erik’s plans. After an argument between his parents, Christopher runs off into the mountains. While Erik drives back to Leipzig, Johannes and Katja set out to find the boy. Because of the storm, they take him to Johannes’s hut. There, Johannes and Katja spend a night together. After Marianne sees Johannes and Katja kissing, she proposes to the town council that Johannes’s land be expropriated to make way for the alpine coaster. Katja then writes an article about Johannes for the local press. By this time, Christopher’s health has improved, and Katja returns to Leipzig with her son. Erik has meanwhile accepted the job offer in Prague, while Katja’s boss has rejected her article about Assamer. With circulation falling, Berger is planning new content and threatens to fire Katja if she does not go along with her plans. In passing, Katja learns from her friend Dr. Maren that Erik had already accepted the job offer without her knowledge. Johannes unexpectedly shows up at Katja’s office in Leipzig. At a restaurant, Johannes and Katja run into Erik, who has arranged a place for Christopher at a German school in Prague. Katja tells her husband that she will not go to Prague with him. Marianne apologizes to Johannes for the planned expropriation and says she plans to marry him, but Johannes turns her down. When Berger refuses to publish Katja’s article about Assamer’s permaculture, Katja quits her job. Erik tells his wife that he will turn down the position in Prague because his marriage matters more to him. Katja admits that she fell in love with Johannes while on vacation. Katja and Erik separate, and she returns to Johannes, where she plans to write her children’s book.