WaPo Bodensee - Episode Guide

For Nele Fehrenbach, a water police officer who has just moved from Hamburg to Lake Constance, her start in her new job couldn't have begun in a more mysterious way. The yacht, which is drifting aimlessly toward the shore, shows traces of blood. Then the yacht owner's body is found near the shore.

Lake Constance: A Haven for Money. When old Politz's boat explodes in the middle of the night on the lake, it quickly becomes clear that this cannot have been an accident. Even though Nele's colleague Andreas Rambach claims the boat was held together by nothing more than "oil and spit," evidence of his intent to smuggle soon comes to light.

It's a good thing Nele listens to her mother, Mechthild, every now and then. "A family is only as strong as its weakest link," she tells her daughter. And that turns out to be the key to solving her latest case. Because after Nele and Spitznagel discover a destroyed rail nest in the reeds in front of the Rau Guesthouse, a very strange story begins to unfold.

On the shore of Lake Constance lies a dead man—a groom—murdered on the most beautiful night of his life. But this Konrad Ferch had been harassed at his wedding by the drunk boatbuilder André Pohl because he hadn't paid for the wedding gift, an expensive motorboat.

A burning dugout canoe on Lake Constance brought the *WaPo* into the picture. That's because a young woman also perished in the fire along with the canoe. Corinna Weingold, a dropout, had been living on Professor Herbert Zittlau's property and was suffering from an incurable brain tumor.

Because the boat pulling him suddenly suffered engine trouble, Marvin, a student who was waterskiing, was injured and is now fighting for his life in the hospital. His friend Lukas is blaming himself heavily. Initial suspicion falls on environmental activist Frederike Löffler, who is handing out flyers in front of the club.

Patrick Heuser robbed a cash-in-transit van on the Swiss side of the border, dumped his accomplice Roman Wüstel into Lake Constance while fleeing by boat, and now wants to start a carefree life abroad with his heavily pregnant girlfriend Jenny. But Patrick has been shot, and the getaway car—with the plane tickets in the glove compartment—was unfortunately towed away from a no-parking zone.

The coxswain of a rowing four from a prestigious boarding school on Lake Constance remains missing despite his teammates' frantic search. Nele quickly realizes that the boarding school is governed by its own set of rules—a dangerous shadow realm with its own rulers and forbidden deals.

A Midsummer Night's Dream turns into a nightmare: of all places, during the Lake Night Festival, right in the middle of the spectacular fireworks display, a man is shot on one of the spectator boats: Uli Kowalski, a former sailing instructor and a sort of father figure to everyone else on the boat—the victim of a gunman on a rampage?

"Was this the work of a psychopath?" Nele Fehrenbach and Pirmin Spitznagel wonder as they discover a dead ostrich with numerous stab wounds while running along the shore. Pirmin suspects a budding serial killer—someone who kills animals first before moving on to humans. And sure enough, he discovers someone who might fit the profile.

Did real estate agent Ruth Meixner kill herself? At least, her body was found floating in a rowboat on the lake with an overdose of morphine in her blood. But then it turns out that her body had been moved after she had already died. Neighbor Marianne Genzgen and her somewhat eccentric son Felix immediately suspect the deceased woman's violent boyfriend, the pharmacist Alex Hellweg.

Alfred Fischer, a resident of a luxurious retirement home, was found dead, floating in the water. This seems to be business as usual for the WaPo, since his heavily indebted nephew and sole heir, Reto Neumann, had just been visiting his murdered uncle.

Sascha, an intern at the "Seeperle" hotel, reports that his girlfriend and coworker Vanessa disappeared without a trace after a nighttime picnic on the lakeshore.

After 100 years, does a legendary sea monster from Lake Constance seek out its victims in the home of the head of the water police? According to legend, the Seemärling then takes three maidens on three consecutive nights to drag them into the depths of the lake.

It all looks like a typical WaPo story: A poacher disguised as a fisherman is caught, but manages to evade the police thanks to his nimble getaway boat. Meanwhile, Nele Fehrenbach and her colleague Paul Schott find the body of Otto Brunner, a wealthy large-scale farmer who was shot, right nearby on the shore.

A sailboat that had long been reported missing is found drifting on Lake Constance—and on board is a TV starlet who was also reported missing, but who simply cannot remember how she got there. It quickly becomes clear that Nana von Lohe is the daughter of a famous, now-deceased plastic surgeon who ran his clinic on the lake.

Canoe polo is a sport for fit, daring athletes like Paul Schott. When he competes in a tournament on Lake Constance, his colleague Julia and Nele, along with Nele's children Johanna and Niklas and Niklas's friend Josh, cheer him on. But their excitement turns to horror when an opposing player is found floating face down, dead, in his kayak.

The young woman, who was found floating lifeless in Lake Constance and pulled from the water by a fisherman, was apparently the victim of a romantic tragedy. Nadja Koch was strangled by her secret lover, Dennis Böhm, following a heated argument.

The Mafia on idyllic Lake Constance? Together with her Swiss colleague, Captain Aubry, Nele is working around the clock to investigate organized crime after two water police officers were murdered. An initial lead points to Pucci, an Italian shoe dealer who is believed to be a member of the Calabrian Mafia.

Lake Constance is considered Europe's largest ship graveyard. As a result, it attracts treasure hunters from all over the world. And that's exactly the kind of treasure hunter the WaPo spots on its patrol. Diver Arno Gierke admits that he misses both his partner and his boat.

The body of a young, athletic man is floating lifelessly in the lake. When Nele and Paul pull the surfer—who is already severely hypothermic—from the water, it's too late to save him. Daniel Dellbrück was the victim of deliberate blows—with a paddle?

What starts out as a routine procedure suddenly turns into a murder case. The animal spotted floating in Lake Constance turns out to be a corpse dressed in a fur costume and wearing a carved wooden mask. Achim Tilger, the deceased, had just suffered an unprecedented business collapse.

Within the walls of the Oberzell Monastery on the island of Reichenau, stressed-out city dwellers often seek relaxation and contemplation. Bestselling author Armin König had also checked in here. But why?

The shock couldn't have been greater for Katrin Jessmann and her husband, Jost. Nele has to break the news to them of the tragic death of their son, Lasse. The surfer drowned—and was apparently struck by a boat.

Julia and the new guy on the team, Jakob Frings, don't hit it off right away; she pointedly gives him the cold shoulder as soon as he arrives at the office. Jakob is the complete opposite of his predecessor, Pirmin, whom Julia still misses.

Bank advisor Benjamin Murjahn's rowboat washed ashore that morning after colliding with another boat. His wife, Tina, freezes when Nele and Paul tell her that her husband is missing.

Julia and Jakob's morning stand-up paddleboarding session in Liebesbucht comes to an abrupt end when Julia discovers a lifeless body on the shore. Instead of doing yoga with Jakob, they now have to get down to some serious detective work.

Julia and Paul's morning search of Yan Brenner's boat comes up empty. The mafia drug courier, who is known to the police, had already thrown the suitcase containing several kilograms of cocaine overboard.

Fate seemed to have been kind to Tim Feringer. The golden boy was Lake Constance's hope for the Olympic sailing competition. Now his body has been recovered. He was killed—like a beginner—by his boat's boom.

The abrupt end to a fun boat trip with friends: When a fellow passenger falls over the railing and sinks into Lake Constance right before Mechthild's eyes, it's a case for her daughter Nele and the WaPo team.

Anna and her boyfriend Florian celebrate passing their high school graduation exams with a trip in a rubber dinghy. A speeding motorboat brings their happiness to an abrupt end. Anna manages to save herself, but Florian dies as a result of the collision.

When a yacht ties up to his sailboat, it's nothing out of the ordinary for Nils. But a blow from the boom sweeps Nils off the deck and into Lake Constance. Paul Schott first spots the sailboat adrift and then the young man floating dead next to the boat.

Fire on board. At the deepest point of Lake Constance, millionaire heiress Marita Schiller is forced to flee her yacht wearing a life jacket. Along with her boat, an expensive piece of jewelry she had kept in an onboard safe also goes down with it.

A shocking discovery at the school camp. Lea, a 17-year-old classmate of Niklas, is found dead, floating on the shore of Lake Constance. Suspicion quickly falls on teacher Andreas Ritter, who had been supervising the class alone—a violation of the rules.

Does Nele have a new admirer? Her mother suspects so and sets her lodger and colleague Jakob Frings on her own daughter. But Nele is currently trying to find out who is responsible for Niko Schöller's death.

Julia and Paul feel left out by Nele and Jakob. The team leader and her subtenant seem to have already gone over all the work-related topics over breakfast, leaving the rest of the crew feeling unnecessary.

Catching a giant catfish holds an unpleasant surprise for two anglers. Inside the fish's stomach, they find a severed woman's finger with a wedding ring. The search for the woman to whom the finger belongs proves difficult for the WaPo.

Julia and Jakob weren't prepared for this situation: They have to ask their boss, Nele, to hand over their badge and gun. During a botched arrest, she shot Kevin Krause, a petty criminal and junkie.

Just a moment ago, the happy bride Sandra felt as if she were still in heaven. But now, a single short sentence shatters all her dreams: "Tim is dead." Her mother, Roswitha, can only comfort her daughter by holding her close. That morning, Nele and her colleague Paul had fished Tim Kreindel's body out of Lake Constance. All hopes rested on the talented young chef to restore the once-renowned restaurant "Fischerhütte"—run by Roswitha—to its former glory. Sandra's brother Stefan, whose down-to-earth cuisine had led to the restaurant's decline, was a guest at the fatal bachelor party. But is his demotion to assistant chef motive enough to murder Tim? And what about Urs Holtmann, who is discovered by Jakob and Julia sleeping on a park bench not far from the crime scene, shirtless and with a blood alcohol level of 1.4 per mille? He gives Jakob a black eye as a greeting and gives Julia a huge scare. She used to date Urs and quickly finds herself in a dilemma. Urs claims to have a blackout and quickly becomes the number one murder suspect.

Actor Michael Hartmann has seen better days. The TV star, once celebrated as the "Alpine Cop," is now reading from his new book to an exclusive audience in Meersburg. Among them are Nele and Paul, whom Hartmann still knows from his school days. But suddenly, a sinister bomb device with a timer causes panic. The tension escalates even further when a caller—former KSK commando Rainer Schladen—makes his demands clear: The detectives have three hours to get Hartmann to reveal the truth about the death of his wife, who had eloped with the "Alpine Cop." He claims Hartmann killed her. If Hartmann doesn't confess to the murder, all three of them will die.

It's rare for such an innocent hobby as birdwatching to end in death. The Washington Post found Sam Birkner, an unemployed amateur ornithologist, at an illegal dumping site on the shore of Lake Constance. The man had been observing not only birds but also people—such as Judge Marla Kohnen, who regularly dismissed Birkner's complaints on the grounds that they were trivial. But the judge was biased, as Nele discovers. She knows Ludwig Kienast, the target of most of Birkner's complaints. The troublemaker Birkner also harassed the renowned ornithologist Kati Hendricks. Sam Birkner accused her of errors in her doctoral dissertation and wanted to make that public. Finally, Jakob and Julia wonder why, of all people, the resolute Ms. Nökel claims to have had a good relationship with Birkner. The curious neighbor failed to notice, of all things, the break-in during which a computer was stolen. The case is becoming increasingly murky.

Nele and Paul barely manage to pull Helmut Pohl out of the water. He had attacked the sailor Lorenz Haller on his boat. Haller was able to fend off the attack. Pohl ends up in the water and falls so badly that he slips into a coma at the hospital. It soon turns out that the man who suffered the accident is the boat's real owner. Haller had bought it in good faith online—from a scammer. Julia and Jakob discover that the payment went to the account of 19-year-old Mila Simic. But Mila is also a victim. She had fallen in love with Jonas, who was just using her. His real name is Maximilian Hofer. He is known to the police as a violent repeat offender. Mila isn't willing to let the matter rest. She meets with Maximilian. A big mistake. Because Nele and her team are also on the trail of this unscrupulous guy.

Jakob sees Vanessa as the woman of his dreams. But Vanessa is recovered dead from Lake Constance—drowned. Paul wants to immediately remove his colleague from the case due to a conflict of interest. However, the worldly-wise Nele fears Jakob might go it alone and keeps him on the team. He immediately sets his sights on Vanessa's ex-boyfriend, Bastian. Bastian had followed her from Düsseldorf to settle debts from a business venture they'd shared. Bastian claims to have spent the night with the receptionist, Marianne Tillich. What about Yvonne, Vanessa's sister? She lives with her boyfriend Georg in a house by the lake that runs a boat rental business. She would have had to give up that idyllic life and sell the house to pay out Vanessa's share of the inheritance. Yvonne presents the investigators with yet another version of events. She says she wanted to sell the house and move to Spain with her sister—without Georg, but also without Jakob. This sends him into an existential crisis.

A lifeguard who drowns? In the case of Daniel Seeger, knockout drops rendered the head of the local DLRG station incapacitated. Nele and Paul investigate the deceased's professional circle and come across his assistant, Leon Berg. The drone expert and motorcycle enthusiast is clearly playing a double game. Then there's the combative environmentalist Carl Weyrich, who felt disturbed by beachgoers and provoked by Daniel. A motive for murder? The WaPo team realizes it has to change its approach. Because, little by little, more and more victims of knockout drops are turning up—people who nearly drowned. For Nele, the case takes on a personal dimension. Her son Niklas, who's skipping school and wants to move out, finds himself in mortal danger. And the DLRG team also includes Anna, whom Noah knows from school. She's happy with her colleague Yannik. Meanwhile, Nele's mother Mechthild is working on a plan to keep the family together.

Mechthild Fehrenbach wanted to record a post for her video blog. When, upon closer inspection of the footage, she discovers that someone on board a ship is writing "Help" on the window with lipstick from the inside, she calls her daughter Nele. Nele is away at a training course and doesn't share Mechthild's suspicion that a crime might be behind it. Mechthild remains undeterred, but she has to pull out all the stops to convince the WaPo that she's on a hot lead. After initial checks by the ship's owner, Stephan Hambach, and a visit on board, nothing points to a crime. However, Sina Bredel, who has just been released from prison, has a score to settle with the ship's owner and threatens to destroy someone's life. While Jakob has his hands full trying to prevent the "Miss Marple of Lake Constance" from continuing her investigation, Sina Bredel's ultimatum is heading toward a deadly conclusion.

Boat owners usually wait 25 years for a berth on Lake Constance. But is that enough of a motive for murder? The feisty doctor Anna Junker has long been impatiently waiting for the eccentric Markus Schwarz to vacate his spot for her with his ramshackle old yacht, the "Holde Isolde." Her grief is muted when, of all people, her daughter Feli finds the murdered loner in the harbor basin. The longer Nele and her team investigate, the more mysterious the case becomes. Markus Schwarz was living on his yacht under a false identity. Who was he really? Meanwhile, Swiss retiree Urs Egli is snooping around the marina—until something happens to him on the "Holde Isolde." Paul has a feeling that his old buddy, the harbor master Konrad, is keeping something from him. Mechthild and her grandson Niklas have staked out moorings for five yachts in front of their own house on the lake and are bringing in the excavator right away. It's a real gold mine—until disaster strikes.

Businessman Hannes Burchardt is found dead in the cabin of his yacht, the Constanza. Everything points to a carbon monoxide accident. But upon closer examination, it turns out that he was murdered with dry ice. At first, all the evidence points to his wife, Zola, as the culprit—she wanted a divorce and now stands to benefit from her husband's death. When Nele Fehrenbach's team questions Zola, Zola's lover, organic farmer Michael Jungbluth, intervenes. He is convinced that both the murder and the investigation are part of a conspiracy against him and Zola. Hannes Burchardt, he claims, was deeply entangled in the web of local political corruption and had been conducting shady deals with local political heavyweight Götz Eberlein. When the WaPo refuses to back down, a scandal erupts. Jungbluth and Zola manage to hijack a police boat to force Eberlein and his diligent office manager, Garber, to confess. The WaPo must stop the enraged Jungbluth.

When the WaPo finds the body of a man who's been shot on a rowboat, Nele immediately notices that this case is particularly upsetting to Paul. Paul knows the deceased. He's a convicted robber and murderer. Rudi Maschke robbed a bank 15 years ago. The one million euro haul never turned up. A security guard was killed in the process, leaving behind two children. Paul was part of the task force at the time. Did Maschke go to his ex-girlfriend Maria Ansböck after his release to claim his share of the loot? Maria had broken up with Rudi right after the robbery-murder and now runs a café on the island of Reichenau. His former accomplice, Robin Steffens—who served only seven years and has just returned from Switzerland, now penniless—would also have a motive. But they're too late; he, too, is found dead. Suddenly, Paul himself is in danger. Yet Paul offers Niklas, who has to write an essay for class, a template on the topic of courage.

Shots are fired at the bank on the Reichenau Peninsula. The perpetrators flee in a black boat. Their target is the motor yacht belonging to architect Katrin Ohlschläger, which she wants to sell. The bank robbers, Martin and Harald Draheim, deliberately take the young mother hostage and flee with her. Julia and Jakob immediately give chase, while Paul, annoyed, pores over files.

It's a nightmare for businessman Alexander Pachmann. Two masked burglars force him to open the safe in his villa and hand over cash and valuables worth nearly 100,000 euros. During the manhunt that follows, Julia and Jakob discover a teenage angler in a rubber dinghy. Clemens Schnitte does have a few prior convictions, but at first glance, he has neither the loot nor a motive.

A summer idyll on Mainau Island just before the Dahlia Queen pageant. But then Bernadotte's head gardener, Sven Gallus, is pulled dead from the water. He was apparently poisoned. The deadly poison—which is extremely difficult to detect—is extracted from the fruits of the miracle tree, a single specimen of which grows on Mainau Island. The officers learn this from apprentice Denise Munk, who comes under suspicion: Gallus apparently had issues with her, especially since the woman—who has a criminal record—only got the job as part of her probation requirements. Did Gallus want to fire Denise, and did she poison him? Gallus's partner, chef Cornelia Hegemann, is convinced of this, because losing her apprenticeship would have meant that Denise would have to serve her prison sentence. The WaPo discovers that Gallus bred the "Hilde" variety of dahlia—the prized tuber was worth half a million euros to an investor. Does Gallus's closest colleague, Martin Proschalla, know more than he's letting on?

Jakob and Niklas's morning kayaking race on Lake Constance ends with a terrible discovery. Suddenly, they have to watch as a competitive swimmer—who had just swum past them using the crawl stroke—is pulled dead from the lake. The deceased is Phillip Guldenstein, the eldest son of a wealthy business dynasty.

Nele is in a state of panic. Businesswoman Ricarda Heimlinger is just about to report the kidnapping of her son Jan—along with a hefty ransom demand—when the boy shows up, completely unaware of what's going on. It quickly becomes clear that a kidnapper has taken the wrong teenager. Instead of Jan, it's his friend Niklas—Nele's son—who is being held captive on a boat. And he's seen his kidnapper.

Julia and Paul find signs of a struggle and blood on an abandoned yacht. Strangely enough, the yacht's extremely unlikable owner, Simon Kohnert, shows little interest in solving the case. This makes Nele suspicious, especially since Miriam Kohnert, the owner's wife, remains missing.

The ferry "Konstanz" leaves the harbor seven minutes early. On board: Captain Heiler, who has given the crew the day off, as well as Nele and Julia, who were lured aboard under false pretenses.

Julia just wanted to practice shooting in peace at the Seeschützen and have a cup of tea with Damian Wendt, the nice son of a Hamburg merchant, when she noticed an argument escalating: Activist Lutz Bremer was confronted by the building manager, Karen Moll, on the Seeschützen grounds and taken away.

More than two million followers online want to see how the "Paleo Girl" at Lake Constance brings the Stone Age back to life. One morning, as Katrin Baumann—Paleo Girl's real name—tries to push a prehistoric boat into the lake, she is knocked unconscious from behind and abducted.

The body of a competitive rower who died during training has disappeared from the funeral home. His young widow, Leni Senger, is stunned.

Paul is participating in an open-water swim. In the middle of the lake, a swimmer next to him gets into trouble and dies. The deceased is businessman Max Behringer, who made many enemies with a wind farm project on the Swiss Seerücken.

"Not even two weeks," is Mechthild's prediction for the future of the WaPo couple, Julia and Jakob. In fact, the first signs of friction between the two begin to surface as they investigate the Kaltenbrunner case.

Bomb alert on Lake Constance. An unexploded World War II bomb has washed ashore and must be defused. Under the command of Matthias Krämer, the defusing of the dangerous anchor rope begins. Paul is also on site. He and his friend Matthias know each other from their time together in Afghanistan, where the two were involved in building up the local police force. The young bomb disposal expert Sven Sailer is tasked with defusing the mine. Matthias, Paul, and Sven's colleagues Alexandra Schulz and Hadi Bozkurt remain in contact with the young man via radio and GoPro video feed. As Sven takes a closer look at the mine, the unthinkable happens: it detonates. Sven doesn't stand a chance.

His death comes as a shock to everyone. A tragic accident? But then Paul and the forensic team find evidence suggesting that the apparent workplace accident was actually a murder: Someone deliberately remotely detonated the mine using modern explosives. When Julia breaks the news to Sven's wife, Steffi, the pregnant woman collapses. Nele and Paul determine that the explosives came from the ordnance disposal unit's armory in Friedrichshafen.

Mechthild lets Nele and Jakob—whose head is almost completely shaved—tag along as she trains to become a tour guide. She gives a particularly vivid account of the story of Gnadensee. In the Middle Ages, people sentenced to death were pushed from a boat into the lake after a bell rang—with a chance to save themselves by swimming …

Early in the morning, two boats are racing across Lake Constance. One of the boats fails to notice an unsuspecting swimmer. The emergency doctor can only confirm the swimmer's death. There is no trace of the driver responsible for the accident.

Amira has been hired as a cleaner by a cleaning company. Her boss, Alex Richmonder, isn't too fond of her and threatens her over the phone while she's removing bloodstains from a yacht and finds a friend's gold necklace.

Blind chef Tobias Schandau, together with his brother Frank, has fulfilled his dream of opening his own dark restaurant. Guests are invited to enjoy food from his perspective—tasting without seeing.

The discovery of the body of physics professor Franziska Ernhardt leads investigators Nele Fehrenbach and Paul Schott to the University of Konstanz. Was the scientist the victim of a relationship dispute?

Patrycja Sikora is found strangled on the shore of Lake Constance. When the autopsy reveals that she had sexual intercourse immediately before the murder, the WaPo sees many signs pointing to a crime of passion.

Nele almost didn't make it to her 50th birthday. A gun is pointed at her on the Bodan. Meanwhile, her mother, Mechthild, is secretly planning a grand birthday party behind Nele's back.

A series of drone attacks is shaking up the idyllic yachting world on Lake Constance. So-called "Saviors of the World" are using drones to place packages containing ticking time bombs on the boats.

That was not at all what Nele had imagined. The anniversary celebration for her high school graduating class on the event ship "Wilbert" ends the next morning with the death of her former classmate, Conny Wilbert.

After robbing a gold transport, the perpetrators flee across Lake Constance. When their boat's engine fails, Tamara Sedlak and her boyfriend Antonio Krusewitz hijack Frederik Schick's boat. When he resists, a shot is fired from Antonio's gun.

The gasping emergency call that reaches Nele and Julia over the radio while they're on patrol comes from commercial fisherman Heiko Frömmke. The two find him dead on his yacht. Heart failure.

The shots fired at Nele come without warning. Hit, she collapses onto the deck right in front of Paul. The Drako, the seemingly unmanned yacht the two had intended to board, picks up speed and disappears.

Nele is suspected of murder and, while in prison, can't remember anything. She is alleged to have shot Sandro Kubitschek in the heat of the moment when he came to her home to threaten her.

If only Nele had listened to her mother, Mechthild. Nele is finally supposed to enjoy the vacation she took because of her gunshot wound. But she wants to know how her colleagues are doing and gets a big surprise when she shows up at the station.

Mr. Zielke, an elderly man who was slightly injured and disoriented and was rescued from the water by the WaPo Bodensee, turns out to be a key witness in a murder case.

For 30 years, the statue of the famous medieval courtesan Imperia has been rotating in the Port of Konstanz and has been a landmark of the city. The online ad was clear: A charming student delights well-to-do gentlemen during a boat tour.

The body of dentist Linda Stern was found caught in a Lake Constance fisherman's net. When Julia and Jakob inform her husband, Dr. Thomas Stern, he states, visibly shaken, that his wife had wanted to separate from him.

After his arrest, Ben Müller comes across as a hardened gangster. Although the 23-year-old was steering a boat loaded with explosives, he is now in pretrial detention.

A mermaid glides through the waters of Lake Constance, flirts with the camera, and swims toward a dock—straight into the arms of her killer. The victim's name is Lisa Bertram, and Julia remembers her as an influencer who used to post alongside her boyfriend, Joshua.

Early one morning, Nele and Mechthild receive an unexpected visit from their neighbor, Steffi Hillebrand. Steffi is distraught—her house has been broken into, and her husband has disappeared.

A cyclist finds a dead kayaker on the shore of Lake Constance. When she turns the body over, she is startled: it is her boss—Richard Röhmke, who heads the city's real estate office—bludgeoned to death with a paddle.

It all begins with a fire at the port of Radolfzell, to which Paul is called. On top of that, there's a report from a boat owner who discovered that, while he was away, someone had misused the cabin for a rather risqué hobby.

Paul's joy over his newly purchased "Maria" is short-lived. Because, of all places, the WaPo finds two kilograms of cocaine aboard the small wooden yacht.

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.

Well-known businesswoman Viktoria Fildermann doesn't seem particularly distraught as she reports her husband's disappearance without a trace to the WaPo. Jakob, in particular, can't believe the brazenness with which this influential woman repeatedly leads the investigators on a wild goose chase. She is supported in this by her assistant, Klara Bogner, and her lawyer, Dr. Sven Leitmeyer. Viktoria Fildermann makes no secret of her contempt for her stepson, Maxim.

Jakob loses his temper. It's clear to him that Klara sacrificed herself for her boss to protect Viktoria Fildermann. He promises Klara's mother, Theresa Bogner, that he'll find the real culprit and lets himself get carried away into making an emotional outburst to the businesswoman. This has dire consequences for Jakob. But they pale in comparison to the bad news that's now coming in. A suicide in prison, a murder at Fildermann's villa, and Maxim Gönder and his girlfriend Thessa on the run toward Switzerland in a stolen boat—until they run out of gas and are cornered by the WaPo.

The undertakers are quite taken aback. In the middle of Lake Constance, they're ambushed while transporting the body of convict Charlie Maurer. The kidnappers make off with the coffin and its contents. Jakob and Paul are at a loss when, a short time later, they find the boat with the coffin but no body. It's the same question Nele and Julia are asking themselves: Who would kidnap a dead convict who had no social connections or relatives?

During their morning patrol, the WaPo receives a distress call: There's a body at the beach with an arrow stuck in its chest. The deceased is Jan Kastner, who had been spearfishing secretly along the shore with his friend Tobias Lehner. It quickly becomes clear that the fatal shot was not fired from Lehner's speargun. But Nele and Julia can't believe their eyes when they run into Kastner's wife, Lara, at her home. Lara Kastner is extremely tense and refuses to let the police officers into the house.

Instead of the trash she expected to find on the lake bottom, Julia brings up a body during a dive—one that had been weighted down with a stone. Based on his coat of arms, the deceased is identified as Torsten Engelhard. When Nele breaks the news of her husband's death to his widow, Patrizia Engelhard, she is already dressed in black. In fact, her husband had already been buried eight days earlier. The police open the grave. The coffin is empty. Who would steal a dead body from its grave to sink it in Lake Constance?

Paul Schott is injured during a robbery at a gas station by the lake when he encounters Pia Giroud, who is on the run. She takes advantage of a hospital stay to escape from prison, where she was serving time for stealing medication. A possible accomplice remains unknown. While reviewing the surveillance footage, Pia manages to escape again, which weighs heavily on Paul.

Screams alert Nele and Julia aboard the "Bodan" just as they are passing the Prehistoric Museum in Bodman. Line Felber is distraught. The daughter of museum director Manfred Felber has just found security guard Tom Geissler—dead under a heavy stone slab whose securing straps had been deliberately cut, as Nele quickly realizes.

The robbery at the yacht club goes awry. While one of the perpetrators flees in a car, the other, having been shot, limps through the woods toward the dock. On the getaway boat, the "Novalis," Paul's wife Christina—of all people—is waiting for her new boyfriend, Professor Tritan Langguth. Dennis Breitner takes her hostage. Paul is shocked; he wants to act immediately to free her and suspects Christina's new boyfriend, who, however, vehemently protests his innocence. Fortunately, Nele keeps a clear head and, with Julia's and Jakob's help, tracks down Kalle März, Breitner's possible accomplice. He, however, insists adamantly that he had nothing to do with the robbery. An attempt to contact the fugitive robber through Franziska Weill—Dennis's ex and the mother of his daughter Matilda—also fails at first. Breitner has even switched escape boats with Christina. The police are in the dark. Then Max discovers a secret message from Christina on the "Novalis." A race against time begins. Breitner is known to be violent and intends to make his escape. Then, unexpectedly, a new lead emerges that no one could have anticipated.

After a tryst at a hotel in Konstanz, Walter Tesker drives his car at high speed into the lake without braking. The WaPo manages to rescue him at the last second. While Tesker is placed in an induced coma at the hospital, the WaPo discovers that the car's software had been tampered with. The accident turns out to be an assassination attempt. Through a receipt from a lingerie boutique, Jakob tracks down the woman from the hotel: Sandra Murau claims that she had been having an affair with Tesker for two months and now wants to save her marriage to her husband, Michael. The case takes a new turn when Nele receives a visit from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which informs her that Tesker was a former Polish spy who betrayed several colleagues after the fall of the Berlin Wall and had been living in Switzerland with the Office's knowledge. The case is none of the WaPo's business. But to Paul's great relief, Nele has no intention of handing the investigation over to anyone else. She tracks down Oleg Gorski, a former colleague of Tesker's, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment on Lake Constance. Nika Murau surprises her parents with the news that she's dropping out of college.

When even the newspapers start reporting on the "Phantom of Lake Constance" on their front pages, District Attorney Dr. Severin loses his temper. He storms into Nele's office and accuses her of not having her department under control. Meanwhile, the WaPo is even working night shifts to track down the person who has now broken into and robbed nine yachts along Lake Constance. Each time, the perpetrator left no traces and wasn't caught on camera. Then a sailor, Max Gerber, comes forward, saying he saw the Phantom in the semi-darkness before he was incapacitated.

A boat drifting aimlessly holds a nasty surprise for Julia and Paul during their patrol across the lake. There is a dead body on board. Investigators suspect suicide after finding a gun next to the body of Michael Schwab. That is the name on the papers found with the body, and it is also the name of the man whom Nora Fornoni reports missing to Nele at the police station almost at the same time. When Jakob later tries to get more detailed information from Nora, who works as a waitress at a beach bar, he finds her locked up and being threatened by her boss, Oliver Baier.

The picnic by the lake with the beautiful tour guide Alina Poll ends fatally for Max Rogall. The real estate agent collapses, bleeding, in front of beachgoers. Nele and her team are in the dark. After all, Rogall was rich, had no enemies, and his wallet is full. Paul finds the victim's car and, in the GPS, a lead pointing to David Petrov. The businessman seems genuinely distraught over Rogall's death and, moreover, has an alibi from his assistant, Mascha. Rogall died from a fatal blow to the heart. Was it a defensive strike by Alina Poll, who felt threatened by the man who might be her father?