Stunde der Entscheidung (2006)

German doctor Karen Bender and her local colleague Viktor Novak are working as doctors during the Balkan War. In a dramatic emergency operation, they save the life of a small child. After they barely manage to reach safety, they grow closer. Karen Bender returns to Germany to her husband, Christoph, and keeps her affair from him. Seven years later, Karen and her husband lead an idyllic family life in Munich with their daughter, Kim. While he is successful as a lawyer, she is a specialist in plastic surgery and is on the verge of being promoted to senior physician. After Kim’s hand begins to tremble and she is hit by a cyclist, she is diagnosed with a cavernoma—that is, a congenital malformation of the blood vessels in the brainstem. The only doctor qualified to perform the urgently needed operation is Viktor Novak, now an internationally renowned neurosurgeon. Kim has to fight her fear when Benny, who has cancer, is moved into her room and dies shortly afterward. A blood test before the operation reveals that Viktor is Kim’s father. Karen can no longer keep her affair from her husband and confesses who Kim’s father is. Christoph wants a divorce. He unsuccessfully asks his colleague Nathalie Kerner to represent him in court; Nathalie tells him he should think of Kim instead. While Karen despairs at Christoph’s persistence, Viktor courts her. Meanwhile, Viktor must decide whether to operate on his own daughter in defiance of medical regulations. Christoph asks him to do it because he believes Viktor is the best person for the job. Kim gets through the operation without complications. After a long period of doubt, Christoph decides to stay with Karen.