The main character of the plot is the divorced Marianne Brandt in her mid-forties , portrayed by Sabine Postel , who after the divorce from her husband Theo Brandt pursues the goal of leaving her 20 years of life as a housewife, mother and wife behind and giving it new content. Her ex-husband Theo now lives with his new partner Jennifer Busche . In order to regain her own freedom, Marianne initially even took a job as a cleaner, in later episodes she ran a travel agency in Cologne with her friend Inge Hertel . However, their almost adult children Nina and Oliver have not yet completed the process of separation from their parents' home. The fact that even Oliver's friend Maja regularly goes in and out of the house is made even worse by the fact that her former mother-in-law Lotte Brandt is staying with Marianne . Despite these obstacles, she falls in love with the lawyer Jan König , who is the father of the children Mäxchen and Paula . After Nina and her boyfriend Nils Jansen give birth to little Anton and the ex-mother-in-law Lotte, who lives in the household, also wants to take her boyfriend with her, Marianne and Jan move into their own house and the rest of the household is split up at least spatially different households. Kai Lentrodt plays in the series in the role of Lutz Marquardt the scheming work colleague of Marianne's daughter Nina . After her son Oliver emigrates to Australia in the third season, Marianne apparently compensates for this by taking on her holiday acquaintance Leo as a "substitute son". Generally there is news in the third season. Nina's new love is now Alexander Paul and Marianne herself is now in a relationship with the building contractor Max Assauer , with whom she tries again and again unsuccessfully to run a common household without the obligations to the others.