Summary
Martin Sommer, Mayor of Lauterbronn, has problems. The small town in the Tauber Valley is idyllic, but structurally weak and heavily dependent on agriculture. As more businesses are lost, the single father of a teenage daughter worries about the future of the town and community finances. The silver lining is the offer of an international beverage manufacturer. Because Lauterbronn has a resource that can be used commercially: extensive groundwater deposits of very good quality. The company PureAqua, represented by its German representative Rainer Gebhard, makes a lucrative offer for extraction rights, secures jobs and is supported by state politics, for which Julia Roland, water officer at the Ministry of the Environment, is on duty. With an expert report, which certifies Lauterbronn's virtually inexhaustible deep water reserves, possible objections are calmed, including those of Martin. He supports the deal and releases land for a test well. Nevertheless, resistance forms, which becomes more and more violent. Ava, Martin's daughter, vehemently opposes her father's plans and becomes the front figure of a citizens' initiative. The protest against the sell-off of water rights is vocal and combative. He is particularly embittered with the farmer Bernhard Schultz, who could not prevent the well from being drilled on the land he leased. His farm is already suffering from the increasing drought, and the privatization of groundwater resources is a scandal for him, which he uses drastic means to draw attention to. Martin didn't expect so much headwind. And he feels let down by Julia Roland and politics. Martin considers rowing back. But is that still possible?
