WaPo Bodensee - Season 7

What began as a romantic trip to Mainau ends in disaster for Christine Keppler and Matthias Bruhns. Within minutes, their pedal boat filled with water. For Bruhns, who is physically unwell, the distance to shore is too far.

Andrè Malik is notorious for his thefts around Lake Constance. Paul explains to Nele that Malik is wanted by the police when a distraught mother bursts into the station. Mira Baader reports that her 16-year-old daughter, Leonie, hasn't returned from her morning stand-up paddleboarding trip. Almost immediately, a kidnapper calls her cell phone, demanding that she keep the police out of it.

Jakob's daughter Tammy is gone! She just took off in a rubber dinghy. The search for her leads to two outcomes: Jakob must reconnect with his daughter—a process in which Mechthild offers both advice and practical support—and the WaPo must investigate the violent death of a wife and mother who is found dead in Lake Constance, right next to the spot where Tammy fled.

Jakob is the first to sense the danger. Tammy's mother, Sonja, has never let her daughter down. Now she's ignoring Jakob's call, even though she was supposed to have been back at Villa Fehrenbach 24 hours ago. Of all people, Julia supports her ex-boyfriend Jakob in his desire to track Sonja's cell phone, while Nele is still hesitating. A visit to the art expert and collector Ruben von Wallersleben reveals the unsettling fact that, until recently, Sonja had been restoring an Otto Dix painting—one that has just been discovered under strange circumstances and is worth millions.

It's the perfect evening: As Julien Bakker speeds across Lake Constance in a motorboat with his beautiful companion after a visit to the lakeside terraces, they're both tipsy and have eyes only for each other. They hear the desperate cries of a rubber boat driver too late. Because he doesn't want his affair with his companion, Flora Fitz, to be exposed—and because he's also under the influence of alcohol—Bakker flees the scene of the crime. There's no trace of the rubber boat's driver. He keeps the accident a secret from his wife, Annika. Instead, he finds a blackmail letter on his car the next morning…

A gorgeous morning on Lake Constance. Lea von Brahms sets out on her daily 2,000-meter swim. But she never makes it back to shore. Despite her desperate struggle, something drags her down into the depths. At first, Nele and Paul suspect Lea's boyfriend, the attractive personal trainer Malte Hummert.

Of all places, Mechthild is arrested right in front of the house of Thomas Steeler, the real estate tycoon who has just been murdered. She had been demonstrating there with others against speculators who are buying up apartments and houses around the lake and reselling them at a huge profit. For Nele, this is embarrassing and a real challenge. After all, Steeler had nothing but enemies.

Nele and Paul's morning patrol across the lake ends with the discovery of a body on the shore. Victor Fuchs, a teenager, drowned after breaking his neck. When the two investigators arrive at "Haus Sterntaucher," where Victor was part of a residential program for youth with criminal records, they witness an argument between Ben Stadler and the carpenter Dennis Rutschinski, who is building a boat out of scrap wood with the teens. But when questioned by the police, the three teenagers—Ben, his girlfriend Michelle, and Kiara—present themselves as a clueless group, and their social worker, Katrin Böblinger, also claims to have been unaware of any conflicts.

Gagged and tied to a chair, company boss Marc Mathis is forced to watch as a masked man empties the safe containing the building materials store's weekly takings and flees across the lake by boat. During the investigation, Jakob is puzzled by the fact that the perpetrator must have known the access code to the company. The company's former black sheep, Andi Klimmeck—who has been living on the streets since his dismissal—is quickly identified as a possible suspect. But Paul believes the amateur angler when he says he had nothing to do with the crime. Meanwhile, a suspect vanishes without a trace and finds himself in mortal danger...

Julia treats herself to some time off. But during a yoga retreat on the lake led by Lara Mühlemann, a body suddenly floats by. Julia immediately jumps off her surfboard, pulls the dead man—a real estate agent—ashore, and begins her investigation—without revealing to the other retreat participants that she's a police officer. She makes it clear to her colleagues, who have rushed to the scene, that this is the only way she can get the information needed to solve the fatal stabbing. Thanks to Julia's vigilance and Annika Schwab's testimony, Nele soon realizes that the retreat leader has been lying to her.

During their morning patrol, Julia and Paul can't believe their eyes: a motor yacht is brazenly heading into the nature reserve. The skipper is sitting at the helm, laughing maniacally—and dies in Paul's arms. The lab provides the answer. Michelin-starred chef Carlos Münch died of an inedible overdose of saffron. When his wife, Nadine Münch, breaks the news of the chef's death to the staff at the Michelin-starred restaurant "Epice," it triggers more than just shock.

Ron Franke's world comes crashing down. His brother David is brought to the surface, half-dead, by his diving partner Susann. David dies in the hospital. He leaves behind his wife, Lisa. Paul is puzzled. After all, David was part of the police diving unit, just as Susann once was—and Paul had been a sort of mentor to her. The two had been diving in a restricted zone, searching for evidence that the Hornschild company was illegally discharging wastewater into Lake Constance. The company's boss, Oliver Hornschild, has an alibi for the night before David's death. It turns out that David's tank was filled with a deadly gas.

Georg Sperling suddenly became rich through an inheritance. Word has spread around Lake Constance that this philanthropist is happy to help—including with monetary donations. Now his body is washing up on the lakeshore—and the WaPo witnesses Sperling's son, Frieder, berating the housekeeper, Hoa Phan, as a gold digger when she arrives for work. The documents presented by Michael Bentheim, the deceased's financial advisor and his foster son, seem to corroborate this suspicion. Hoa has been lying. Paul soon discovers this during the interrogation.

Did carpenter Armin Herbst kill himself in the lake? His son Felix, his daughter-in-law Marion, and his business partner Roland Meyer are already rubbing it in to the *WaPo* that he bears some responsibility for the death of his young granddaughter Rosa. Furthermore, his pockets were weighted down with pebbles, and the rowboat was found drifting not far from where he was discovered. Nevertheless, Paul has his doubts about the story.

Ten years later, the mysterious disappearance of Emely, the jeweler's daughter, still gnaws at Julia. She has never forgotten this unsolved case. Now she can hardly believe that Emely is knocking on her parents' front door, wet and shivering. Julia Pötsch, overjoyed to have her daughter back, shields her from excessive police scrutiny. So Nele and Paul leave the villa empty-handed. But Julia can't stop thinking about Emely's return, and during her own investigation, she notices that a motorcyclist is tailing the Pötsch family's house.

Der heimische Tresor der Pötschs ist leergeräumt. Die wertvollen Diamanten sind samt Emely verschwunden. Silvia Pötsch glaubt, ihre Tochter ein weiteres Mal verloren zu haben. Jakobs Spürnase fördert aber mit Hilfe von DNA-Spuren eine neue Fährte zutage. Als das verschollene Tagebuch auftaucht, kann sich Julia einige drängende Fragen endlich beantworten. Nele und Paul gelingt es sogar, Marvin Haag, Emelys Kontaktmann, dingfest zu machen.