Alpine Rescue

Extreme climber Andreas Marthaler returns to his homeland, Styria, for the first time in three years. He is the best man at the wedding of his best friend Stefan Hofer, head of the local mountain rescue team, and his future wife, Emilie, with whom he already has two children. It is supposed to be Andreas' last days in his old home country. He has big plans, wanting to open a climbing school at the Grand Canyon with his girlfriend Sarah. On the morning after the wedding, before the friends' lives are to change so fundamentally, they go climbing together and enjoy the peace and the expansive view over the mountain world that has been so familiar to them since childhood. But suddenly they notice a fallen and injured climber on a rocky ledge below them. Immediately, Andreas and Stefan expertly work their way down. Despite their experience, however, they are unable to prevent a heavy rockfall. Stefan is hit in the head and falls. He barely has time to implore his friend to take care of his wife and children.

A devastated Andreas is faced with the difficult task of breaking the terrible news to Emilie. She obviously blames him, because it was he who persuaded Stefan to make the final ascent. Emilie forbids Andreas to ever approach her again. Full of pain, Andreas plans his departure, not wanting to stay in Styria a second longer. Stefan's son, eight-year-old Lukas, cannot and will not believe that his father is dead. He sets out unnoticed to try and find him. When Andreas learns of Lukas' disappearance, he doesn't hesitate for a second and begins searching for the boy. For Emilie, the wait is unbearable. Will she now lose her son in addition to her husband? And how does Andreas deal with the promise he made to his best friend?

New guests have arrived at the Pension Marthaler. Thomas Wiedhain and Karsten Meinert seem to share more than just friendship, although Karsten has a wife and children. A long-simmering quarrel between the two escalates, because Thomas has finally had enough of their secrecy. Mindlessly ignoring the approaching storm, he leaves the boarding house and runs into the mountains. The situation he gets into presents the mountain rescue team with an extremely difficult task. Andreas is still looking for a way to win the trust of Emilie's son Lukas. But the boy has only one thing in mind: he wants to drive Andreas away from the farm. A half-finished soapbox in the stable gives Andreas an idea ... Emilie's farm is in a bad way. Stefan has left her a huge mountain of debt and a forced auction seems to be the only way out. Andreas' friend Sarah grows hopeful: If Emilie has to sell the farm, Andreas will finally be free again. And promptly, grand hotelier and mayor Peter Herbrechter shows great interest in the property. Sarah realizes that they are both pursuing the same goal and makes him a surprising offer.

Peter Herbrechter receives a visitor from the past: his old friend Manfred Rostetter is staying at his hotel together with his son Georg. Even as young men, Peter and Manfred never missed a situation to measure their strength. Today they try to outdo each other with their sons' performances. Peter, however, doubts Manfred's story and starts investigating. It soon becomes obvious that Georg has been lying to his father for years. Manfred and Georg go climbing with Peter's son Tobias. During a difficult climb, an argument about Georg's lies ensues, putting the group in great danger. A race against time begins for the mountain rescue team, as their chief Tobias is seriously injured. On Emilie's farm, the hay collector now also breaks down – and it's about to rain. Peter Herbrecher's offer to buy the farm seems like a godsend. However, with another hotel, he would ruin Franz and Maria's pension. Emilie has to make a decision. Sarah Kraus has left no stone unturned to persuade Andreas to leave Emilie's farm – without success. When, on top of everything else, Andreas learns that Sarah is in cahoots with Peter Herbrechter, a big fight breaks out and Sarah speeds off in her sports car. When her cell phone rings and she reaches for it, she doesn't see the truck coming towards her in time. Andreas is forced to listen to his girlfriend's accident on the other end of the line. What happened to Sarah?

On Emilie's farm, the mood is not good either. The widow of Andreas' best friend, Stefan, is in deep financial trouble. Andreas managed to get the bank to postpone the foreclosure sale of her farm, but in six weeks the time will be up. Emilie has to find 200,000 euros by then, otherwise the farm will be gone. She feverishly searches for her late husband's documents, which she hopes will shed light on why he borrowed so much money from the bank. Meanwhile, hotelier and mayor Herbrechter is already rubbing his hands. No one in town suspects that he is planning to build a cable car station on Emilie's property, which would increase the value of the farm many times over. He tells his son Tobias, Andreas' fellow mountain guard, to climb the mountain with his old friend Karsten Meyer to take measurements for what is supposed to be a new weather station. Although Tobias is suspicious, since measurements in the steep face are hardly necessary for the weather station, he has no choice but to follow his father's order. In a sudden landslide, Meyer is seriously injured in the foot, and Andreas Marthaler and his colleagues from the mountain rescue team have to rescue him. While Andreas is awake at the bedside of Sarah, who is still in a coma, an emergency call reaches him. Meyer has fallen down the rock face and Tobias cannot rescue him alone. Andreas, Bea, Toni and Michael set off despite the worst weather forecasts. Defying heavy thunderstorms, they manage to get to the scene of the accident. But the situation there turns out to be far more complicated than expected. Meyer threatens to collapse, and the storm forces the team to spend the night on the rock face. When Andreas learns that Meyer is diabetic, but the backpack with his life-saving insulin is 200 meters below the surface, he and Tobias set off on a life-threatening descent despite the heavy thunderstorm.

Great joy and relief fill the air. Andreas' girlfriend Sarah has finally come out of her coma after her serious accident. The subsequent examinations in the clinic give Sarah's guardian angel top marks. In fact, she has suffered no injuries apart from a torn ligament. And so, overjoyed, Andreas wraps her in his arms and takes her to the Marthaler boarding house, where his father Franz and Aunt Maria take care of her. Meanwhile, Tobias severely reproaches his father, Peter Herbrechter. He has found out about his father's foul play. He wants to take over Emilie's farm without taking into account her difficult situation. Old Herbrechter is sure that the forced auction of the farm will take place anyway. And why shouldn't he go for it? When his son informs him that Andreas has managed to delay the auction a little, Herbrechter pricks up his ears. Without further ado, he makes Emilie a new offer. Meanwhile, a distraught Vera contacts the mountain rescue service. Her husband has disappeared since the day before. He set off alone on a climbing tour after an argument and has not yet returned. The rescue team quickly gets together and takes up the search with a jeep and helicopter. Soon, they make a gruesome discovery. In a gorge, they find a torn climbing rope, a shattered helmet, and further down, scraps of cloth and bloodstains. Hannes seems to have crashed and fallen into the torrent. Everything is searched feverishly, but there is no trace of the victim. The search is called off, but Andreas is suspicious. The found objects seem too arranged somehow.