Rosamunde Pilcher: Vertrauen ist gut, verlieben ist besser (2014)

Ben Cutler, a single father and head of security at the pharmaceutical company Marshland Medical, inspects his boss Anne Marshland’s beautiful but isolated estate in Cornwall to check its security against break-ins. The two of them are being watched from a VW van. Rod Marshland, Anne’s stepson, meets the attractive Emma Cutler, Ben’s 17-year-old daughter, while shopping. Tall and good-looking, but also pale and awkward, Rod takes his classmate’s sharp fashion advice and invites her to his 18th birthday party. When Emma later tries to steal a dress for herself, a strange woman approaches her and buys it for her. The woman introduces herself as Patty Gregson, an old friend of her father’s. Emma asks her father, Ben, about Patty. She wants to get to know Patty better so she can learn more about the murky past of her own parents. Ben doesn’t like the idea. He seeks out Patty, who lives in a VW van by the sea, and tells her he doesn’t think the contact she has established is a good idea. Patty disagrees and flirts with him. After Ben leaves, she has a phone conversation with an unknown person about acquiring an important patent. Rod’s uncle Jeff wants to throw a huge surprise party for his nephew. Rod, however, is generally distrustful of his family, ever since he, Jeff, and his stepmother Anne each inherited a third of the shares in the valuable pharmaceutical company left by Rod’s late father. Patty turns up at Marshland Medical. She works for Doctors Without Borders and asks for a patent to produce a generic version of a lucrative diabetes vaccine for disadvantaged people in Africa, for which the company has secured approval. Anne and Jeff, who run the company, turn down her request. Anne wants to keep all the company shares in the family, but Jeff already has a buyer in mind and is counting on Rod to support his plans (“Blood is thicker than water”). Meanwhile, Patty draws Ben into her plans to acquire the patent. She says she studied medicine during her time in prison. She hints that Ben, too, has a criminal past. Feeling pressured, Ben disappears. In math class, Emma gets caught when Rod tries to let her copy his work. Afterwards, he offers to tutor her, hoping for more, but Emma turns him down. Meanwhile, Ben and Anne grow closer while swimming naked in the sea. Emma tries to seduce her math teacher, Mr. Cameron, with her feminine charms to distract him from her slip-up at school. But Cameron is gay and rejects her. In revenge, she scratches his car with a key, while Patty, who has been tailing her, films her. Emma later turns to Patty, wanting to know more about her father. Patty says that she and Ben were hackers and something like a couple. When Ben suddenly appears, it turns out Patty has already told him about the video of Emma. Emma is sent home. Patty wants to keep the video under wraps, but in return she wants the patent. Ben begins to trust his daughter and tells her about his past. He and Patty made money through criminal hacking, but unlike him, Patty ended up in prison. Jeff lets Rod in on the offer to buy the company. He tries hard to ingratiate himself with Rod. He suggests Rod win Emma over by using the advantages of being a wealthy heir, perhaps by taking her on a trip around the world. But Emma takes a liking to Rod anyway, as he turns out to be a clever hacker who can get her exam results. The two grow closer while shopping, when Emma gives Rod a more attractive look. As head of security at Marshland Medical, Ben uses Jeff’s password to access the data Patty wants from him, when Jeff, Rod, and Emma suddenly arrive at the company. Emma sees her father in the high-security area and manages to distract her companions so that he can get out unseen. When Ben hands Patty the data stick, he sees her inject insulin. Patty is diabetic herself. Ben feels for her. In a discussion with Anne, Rod asks for more time to decide whether to sell the company. To Jeff’s annoyance, a press release announces that Doctors Without Borders are in possession of the new diabetes vaccine. Late that night, Patty is at the Cutlers’ house, where she lies in wait for Ben. She accuses him of betraying her. Patty’s organization examined the patent data and found it was false; she herself was fired. Ben lets Patty stay the night. The next morning, Anne learns from Jeff about the attack on the company server. However, she assures Jeff that she removed the data beforehand, in time to prevent her brother-in-law from handing it over to the company making the takeover offer. Jeff calls Ben an incompetent head of security. Anne becomes suspicious and suspects a connection between Ben and Patty Gregson, a suspicion confirmed when she spots Patty at the Cutlers’ house. Horrified, she confronts Ben. Ben stands by his decisions and resigns. With Emma’s help, Rod decides to let Anne continue managing his shares even after his 18th birthday. Anne and Ben reconcile after Patty tells her about Ben’s past, helping her understand him better. Anne offers Doctors Without Borders the correct patent on the condition that Patty is rehired. Patty gives Rod and Emma her VW van for their upcoming trip around the world. Ben attaches a tracking device to the vehicle, but Emma wisely removes it and attaches it to another car.