Sensual Paula Marktmann (Thekla Carola Wied) loves life and has one major hobby: she just adores cooking. And now she has just succeeded in getting rid of the excess weight which has gathered around her hips over the last few years; she spent some time at a health resort. However, Paula’s husband, real estate agent Kurt (Horst Janson), doesn’t even seem to notice that his wife has regained her excellent figure; he keeps on calling her “chubby-chops”. In fact this is hardly surprising, because these days Kurt only has eyes for Verena (Xenia Seeberg), his fitness trainer and the latest in a long line of secret mistresses. He even forgets their wedding anniversary, so Paula has to sit down by herself to eat the roast lamb provençal she has so lovingly prepared. But Paula’s life is changed at a stroke when her sister Barbara (Ingeborg Westphal) is killed in an accident, even though the two of them haven’t been in touch for the last 25 years.
It is only at the funeral that Paula meets her niece Maggie (Annett Renneberg). They jointly inherit the beautiful but by now rather neglected country inn “The Swan” where Paul and Barbara grew up and where Maggie also spent the majority of her childhood. As they throw themselves with enthusiasm into the task of renovating this beautiful but extremely indebted family heirloom, the two women find they have a secret enemy who is relentlessly attempting to foil them - and it is none other than Paula’s husband Kurt. His plan is to sell his wife’s legacy at a profit so he and Verena can make a new life for themselves elsewhere. But Paula long ago stopped being the “chubby-chops” he still takes her for. In her battle she receives vital support from the attractive local bank manager Walter Steiner (Jürgen Schornagel) and her son Daniel (Nils Neelessen), who falls in love with Maggie.