Wenn Liebe doch so einfach wär' (2007)

Katrina Lang works at the ticket counter of the small railway station in Pinnow. The station is due to close, and every day Katrina stands by the tracks with a protest sign as ICE trains pass through Pinnow without stopping. One day, at a wedding, she sees the handsome Moritz, who mistakes her for a waitress. The two simply gaze at each other for a long time before Moritz is called over for a group photo with the bride and groom. After her parents’ death, Katrina believes she is a complete orphan, so she is surprised when a notary appears one day and tells her that she has inherited something. Although she has never heard of the deceased, Boris Berger, she goes with the estate administrator to Hamburg. There she meets the Berger shipping family: the widow, Ingrid; her sister-in-law, Lili; and Ingrid’s sons, David and Moritz, whom Katrina has already seen at the wedding. It turns out that Boris left the family members a 51 percent controlling stake in the shipping company. A clause in the will grants his cousin Christian Lang 15 percent of the total shares and, in the event of Christian’s death, leaves them to Christian’s next of kin—Katrina. She wants to refuse the inheritance, but an additional clause prevents her from doing so: Katrina is not allowed to sell or give away the shares for one year. Ingrid, meanwhile, grows suspicious. Christian went to East Germany back then to marry the great love of his life, which led to a falling-out between the cousins. Ingrid now suspects Katrina of being a fraud—or, worse, a Communist. She hires a private detective to investigate. Nevertheless, Katrina stays with the Bergers for a while. Moritz flirts with Katrina and takes her on an outing. David is also attracted to her, even though he is engaged to his childhood friend Annett, and, at Katrina’s request, takes her to the shipping company. Some of the workers are on strike there, and Katrina feels solidarity with them. She realizes that David has never personally engaged with the workers and talks to the strikers. She also gives David a talking-to. Under her influence, David too starts mingling with the strikers and has to realize that most of them disapprove of him and his leadership style. He begins to think about Katrina’s words. Out of gratitude, he gives her a ticket for a trip to New York aboard one of the company’s general cargo ships. To David’s dismay, however, Katrina spends the evening with the womanizing Moritz, even though he has no deeper interest in her. As a major shareholder, Katrina must attend a board meeting hastily called because of the strike. There she opposes the shareholders’ plan to lay off workers in order to modernize the shipping company. Instead, she and David manage to make the strikers a compromise offer, which they say they will consider and later indeed accept. A short time later, the Bergers host a charity gala organized by Ingrid. David has an expensive dress sent to Katrina for the occasion, but she assumes it is a gift from Moritz. On a whim, Moritz proposes to Katrina at the party, but she turns him down. She realizes that he has had affairs with numerous women among the guests, and that the dress came not from him but from David. She slips away with David, who confesses his love for her. His confession is rendered moot when David’s fiancée, Annett, publicly announces at the party that she and David are getting married. Ingrid meanwhile triumphs: the private detective has given her the results of his investigation. Katrina was adopted by Christian, so she is not a blood relative, as the will requires. Lili has known this all along, but kept quiet; she had also reassured Katrina when Katrina told her about her true origins. Katrina is told to leave the Berger house the next day. By chance, she finds an old document behind a picture frame, which makes clear that Boris Berger and Christian Lang once founded the shipping company together—meaning Christian should actually have been entitled to 50 percent of the shares, a fact Boris concealed during his lifetime. Horrified by Ingrid’s machinations, Katrina nevertheless tears up the document, since she no longer wants to accept anything from the Bergers. Katrina returns to Pinnow, where the station’s closure has by now been confirmed. She packs her things and boards the general cargo ship bound for New York. Meanwhile, David realizes how much he loves Katrina. He parts from Annett amicably and hurries after Katrina to the ship. He wants to travel with her to New York, and the two kiss at the end.