Characters

The younger daughter. Some years ago she left her parents’ hotel in this Austrian village and moved to Berlin, where she has become a well-known actress. But behind the unapproachable facade of success there are unacknowledged feelings and fears, and she will have to confront them now she has returned to the village.

Many years ago he established the hotel and built up a thriving business here. Since his wife died the proud old man has only been a patriarch in his own family. He was always a strict father to his two girls, but his illness has transformed him into a curiously mild person. Maybe there is something he has to make up for, something nobody knows about.

Verena's husband. He lives with her in the former hotel, taking care of the building and his father-in-law's property. He's a family man, a caring husband, and it is his secret rival – of all people – who pays him the finest compliment.

The older daughter. When her mother died she stayed with her father, moving into the former hotel with her husband and little boy. She fulfils the expectations placed upon her, does what is expected, but this isn't the life she chose of her own free will. Longings and desires drive her elsewhere.

The doctor. He moved here two years ago and lives in an old house somewhere outside the village. Sometimes he feels lonely, but he loves music, his books – and Verena.

Verena and Michael's little boy. When he comes home from school he likes to play football. But maybe his grandfather will have to die soon, which frightens him. Along with the fact that he has to take the meals up to his old man's room.