Time is running out, and nobody knows that better than Professor Maximilian Haller. As a medical man he is well aware that his heart condition can only end one way, so now his task is to get his affairs in order. A respected doctor, he wants to be sure that his practice and his patients will be in good hands. The only person he would like to take over from him is his own son Dr. Peter Haller. But Peter broke off contact with his father years ago, finding Maximilian overbearing and intrusive. What’s more, when Peter was just 10 years old he lost his mother to cancer - and has been convinced ever since that his father failed to give her sufficient medical support. In a desperate attempt to persuade Peter to take over the practice, Maximilian - assisted by his friend Wenzel - stages his own death and leaves everything to his son. At the faked funeral Peter meets the attractive Stella Gandolfi, owner of the local pizzeria, who is subjected to fainting spells and requires prompt medical assistance. They both seem equally fascinated with each other - but both have good reason not to display these feelings: Stella is engaged - although without any enthusiasm - and Peter simply doesn’t want to settle down in the small town. Finally, however, he allows his father’s housekeeper for many years, Clara, to persuade him that he should stay for at least one night. In the old villa of his childhood, the past overcomes Peter.