Plot

In 1967, fate on a north German dike miraculously brought the Black Forest cuckoo clock maker Gottlieb Dobisch together with his chosen one Leonore. The two married, started a family and opened the first cuckoo clock factory in the north, which achieved considerable success thanks to the company's motto "punctuality, precision, perfection". A good 40 years later, Gottlieb has long since passed away, but his family - Leonore in particular - continues to run the business in his sense. Gottlieb's long-cherished wish to join the Association of Black Forest Cuckoo Clock Manufacturers has so far remained unfulfilled. Now a new opportunity is approaching: A delegation from southern Germany has announced that it will examine the matter again. In order to make the best impression, Leonore instructs her reliable daughter-in-law Katrin to give the welcome speech. However, Katrin, married to Anton, the younger of the two Dobisch sons, overcame the self-doubt and fear of failure that have long drained her in view of this task. The family doctor friend Dr. Ingo Leuwerik, to whom the Dobisch family - and especially Leonore - are very dear, suggests that she attend a rhetoric course secretly in Hamburg. Katrin agrees and ends up with the unstable language trainer Hubertus Hobbs, who drowns his private problems in alcohol every evening. A chain of unfortunate circumstances leads to the fact that she commits a spontaneous, ill-considered affair with Hobbs, which is not without consequences. Because sister-in-law Greta, who looks at Katrin's prominent position in the family hierarchy with envy and jealousy, has tasked her husband, Anton's older brother Lothar, with spying on her competitor. When Katrin's misstep is finally exposed, everything is at stake: family honor, marital happiness and the future of the cuckoo clock factory.—ARD Das Erste