Zoo Doctor: My Mom the Vet - 8 ª Season

Susanne Mertens has reorganized her career following Christoph's death almost a year ago. She now works as a mobile veterinarian. However, this brings with it various difficulties: stalled payments from clients, outstanding financial debts, trouble with the bank. It's the daily struggle of a freelancer. Her daughter Luisa still lives at home and now has a girlfriend: Isabel. The two are planning to move in together, something Susanne isn't supposed to know about for the time being. She needs to be gentle. Her son Jonas, who has unconsciously taken on the role of the missing man in the house and is strict with his younger sister Luisa, is particularly careful about this. After all, Susanne has enough to do with her job and her weekend house, which she bought together with Christoph back then and whose renovation she is continuing despite financial constraints. Susanne doesn't want to return to the zoo; it's too burdened with painful memories. But then it's animal keeper Conny who urgently needs her help with an animal at the zoo. When she arrives, she discovers something astonishing. The zoo is doing her good; the reunion is like coming home. She tells her parents this and eventually the new zoo director, believing, based on all the obvious signs, that the position of chief veterinarian is still available. But her disappointment is all the greater when Jasper Winter, the new director, has to tell her that he has already filled the position with a new veterinarian: Elif Sahin.

Susanne Mertens didn't get the permanent position she hoped for, but will work for the zoo as a freelance veterinarian in the future. The family hopes that she will be able to manage the many costs, including those for the weekend house, which is in need of renovation. Susanne must finally collect her outstanding debts because the bank is pressing her. As she drives from farm to farm to collect outstanding invoices, she meets Mike Redmann, the operator of an alpaca farm. The two immediately like each other - no more, but also no less. Susanne also has to focus on other things. For example, getting along with her new boss, Elif Sahin, at the zoo. It's a big change for her, because Susanne is no longer the responsible veterinarian at the zoo, and Elif Sahin makes this very clear to her. Susanne is therefore all the more focused on renovating the weekend house; after all, it's the only thing she has left of Christoph. Finishing the house despite all the opposition is what drives her. Memories of Christoph keep coming back to her. When things aren't going well at the zoo, she's acutely reminded of Christoph, and the bank and her family are advising her more and more urgently to sell the house, Susanne realizes: The house will be built, whatever the cost.

At the zoo, Dr. Mertens clashes with the head veterinarian, Dr. Elif Sahin, while treating a depressed elephant. The different approaches of the two veterinarians become apparent - as does the fact that Susanne still has to get used to no longer being the boss. The situation is made even more piquant by a visit from Elif's father. He finds Susanne Mertens extremely likeable and, as a former veterinarian, agrees with Susanne's professional expertise. Susanne then decides to circumvent Elif's orders, which leads to a conflict. In another case, Susanne encounters alpaca breeder Mike Redmann again. But she is faced with a different problem: How will she pay for the roof repairs on the weekend house? Will she have to sell the house after all? Her parents, Charlotte and Georg Baumgart, believe this is Susanne's chance to finally let go. They decide not to lend their daughter the money in their own interest. Through the repair of Susanne's dryer, her son Jonas meets Gina. A tender rapprochement develops between the two, leading to their first kiss. Meanwhile, Susanne's daughter Luisa oversleeps her application for an internship at an environmental protection organization and agrees to take one at the zoo instead.

It's the anniversary of the accident in which her husband Christoph died and Susanne lost her unborn baby. Despite all this, Susanne Mertens has managed to regain her courage and is managing her life well under the circumstances. She is determined to stick to her plan to expand the house they bought together. She can't and doesn't want to truly say goodbye to her and Christoph's dream home yet. So, she initially reacts reservedly when Mike Redmann, who doesn't know her story, tries to get closer to her. At the zoo, Dr. Susanne Mertens and the head veterinarian clash because Dr. Elif Sahin delegated a difficult examination to Susanne's daughter Luisa and another intern. But then, through the professional challenge of a mysterious endemic disease at the zoo, the two veterinarians bond and discover mutual respect for one another. Susanne's parents, Charlotte and Georg, now want to lend Susanne money for the house. Inspired by Luisa, Charlotte starts her first video blog, which initially has little promise of success. At the same time, Luisa begins her internship at the zoo, which is quite demanding. A bright spot is the shared apartment that her friend Isabel finds for them. Susanne's son Jonas is also on cloud nine: He has started a relationship with Gina.

For Dr. Susanne Mertens, the daily stress of her job, construction work on the weekend house, household, and family is increasing. When Luisa learns that her mother and her friend Isabel have organized the internship at the zoo, she is so outraged that she skips her internship and argues with her friend. When Isabel subsequently takes a break from their relationship, Luisa is devastated. Her frustration, in turn, leads to an argument with her mother, in which she accuses her of needlessly overexerting herself renovating the weekend house and, above all, neglecting her family. For the first time, Susanne also begins to have doubts. As Susanne's son Jonas and his girlfriend Gina grow closer, they are surprised having sex in Gina's apartment by her brother Justin, who appears to be hiding something there. At the zoo, the new head veterinarian wants to begin in vitro fertilization of the newly arrived tapir, but the animal's illness puts the project in jeopardy. The expectations placed on this project by zoo director Jasper Winter increase the pressure on Dr. Elif Sahin. When Elif has to enter the animal's enclosure to treat it, she has a panic attack and flees the enclosure without administering the medication. However, thanks to Susanne's intervention, the animal is saved. The next day, an open confrontation ensues between the two doctors. Susanne questions Elif whether the job at the zoo is really right for her.