On holiday in the island of Hiddensee the journalist Karoline Wolf falls in love with the mysterious Jacob Thiele, an amateur photographer.

The young, attractive Karoline works as a journalist for a large Hamburg daily newspaper. During a visit to her friend Marina, who lives on Hiddensee with her husband Gert and their adopted son Pit, she meets the charismatic and mysterious photographer Jacob Thiele. A shy love develops between the two, but Karoline has to return to Hamburg. There, her editor-in-chief Manfred makes a momentous discovery: in a holiday photo of Karoline, he recognizes Jacob as the famous war photographer Tom Reuter, who had been thought to be missing in Kashmir for many years and has since been declared dead. Manfred senses a sensational story and sends Karoline back to Hiddensee to research the case further. Although she finds out that Jacob is actually the star photographer who was believed to be dead, Karoline covers for him to her boss. After the tragic accidental death of his wife, Jacob had decided to let Tom Reuter die and start a new life. A spectacular exposé by Karoline's boss leads to a real smear campaign against Jacob. In order to exonerate her lover, Karoline begins to investigate. She finds out that Jacob has a son who was given up for adoption. The child's trail leads to Hiddensee - to the house of her friend Marina.—ADR Das Erste