Tierisch verliebt (2009)

The veterinarian Sebastian Brunnen is a widower who moves from Berlin to Bernkastel-Kues on the Moselle, where he takes over a veterinary practice. There he meets Katharina Mohr, who is engaged to the town’s mayor and has run a riding stable on her own since her parents died. When Mohr’s most valuable broodmare falls ill and has to be put down, her fiancé, Daniel Heim, shows no sympathy for Katharina’s situation. Instead, he immediately demands that all the horses on the property be put down, since the animal had contracted infectious anemia, a highly contagious disease. Katharina is devastated: not only has she lost the mare, but the entire property is under quarantine, and the annual riding festival is out of the question. It is hard for veterinarian Brunnen to bear as well, because he likes Katharina and found it difficult to tell her about the contagious disease. On top of that, he has failed to keep a promise to his daughter Kira: he had wanted to spend the day with her for once, rather than go off somewhere and “play animal rescuer.” Katharina’s world falls apart when, a few days later, the official veterinarian tells her that all her animals will have to be put down. With no support from her fiancé, she abruptly breaks off the engagement. She even suspects that her animals are being sacrificed to the financial interests of “certain gentlemen,” since the official veterinarian’s son also owns a riding stable and would therefore have one less competitor to worry about. She turns to veterinarian Brunnen, and together they obtain a second opinion in order to save the animals. He also visits the stud farm from which Katharina recently bought the mare. The stud farm manager remembers that the previous owner, from whom he had acquired the animal, had included various feed supplements. Brunnen takes the entire box and has everything tested in a laboratory. Amid all these problems, he neglects his daughter once again. Although he had promised to be back for dinner, which she had specially prepared for the two of them, he has once again failed to keep his word. Kira packs her things and plans to travel back to Berlin late that night. Brunnen finds her at the train station and brings her home. The next day, the disease-control committee is due to decide the fate of Katharina’s horses. Brunnen struggles to submit the lab report in time. It reveals that vitamin tablets from Ireland were the cause of the outbreak. Since only the mare had been given this preparation, the other horses could not have been infected. The official veterinarian points out, however, that this does not change how contagious the disease is. Brunnen explains that the mare had never been in contact with the other horses. Katharina’s horses therefore only have to get through the quarantine period, and her riding business can finally resume. She is happy and shares her happiness with Brunnen. They confess their love to each other.