A Better Place - 1 ª Season

In Rheinstadt, scientist Petra Schach and Mayor Amir Kaan are starting the revolutionary TRUST project: a rehabilitation program that aims to close the city prison and reintegrate the prisoners into society once they are free. True to the motto: healing instead of punishment. While twenty-year-old Nader, one of the released prisoners, is given a new apartment and a job, his sister Yara is still deeply involved in criminal structures and is arrested by the police shortly after visiting her brother. Mark, also recently released, returns to his family. His wife Eva is a social worker at Trust. The couple are estranged by Mark's time in prison. Mark's son Niki is happy to finally have his father back, while daughter Alina has long since gotten used to life without him. When a landlord suddenly refuses to give one of the participants an apartment, Petra breaks her principles and decides to take the right-wing extremist criminal into her private home. At the same time, she puts pressure on therapist Lydia: she should give a positive assessment of another controversial case so that he too can be released.

The TRUST program has had a successful start. During a therapy session, Nader is confronted with one of his former victims. Meanwhile, his sister Yara is on trial. Will she also get the chance to take part in the TRUST program? Petra tries to manage the expectations of the Gül family, especially Nesrin, who feels retraumatized by the release of Klaus Bäumer - her son's murderer. Eva faces challenges in all areas of life: from the difficult collaboration with the unruly Yara to her efforts to reconcile with Mark.

A series of robberies shakes Rheinstadt. The press blames TRUST, which increases the pressure on Petra and Amir. Sex offender Jens has his first therapy session in freedom. Lydia fears that he could become dangerous if he doesn't adapt to his new life outside of prison. Nader proves himself at work and gets closer to his colleague Milane, while Eva continues to have problems with Yara, who doesn't follow TRUST's guidelines. Nesrin tries to help a woman who thinks she is being stalked by one of the participants, but is confronted with her own worst nightmare.

A data leak plunges TRUST into crisis when the names, addresses and actions of all participants are published. Lydia orders Jens to leave his apartment because he is no longer safe there. Nader is confronted by Milane after she learns about his past. Mark is tormented by guilt and, against Eva's will, wants to tell the children the truth about the accident that led to his conviction. Tayfun accuses his wife Nesrin of being driven by revenge, while Petra fights for the public reputation of her project. Eventually she even faces resistance from her own ranks when victim representatives Sabine and Amir plan to tighten the rules of the program.

Amir enforces new measures against Petra's will, and all TRUST participants are given digital handcuffs to monitor them around the clock. Petra angrily accuses him of wanting to turn Rheinstadt into a huge open-air prison. While Nesrin feels like she has lost the battle against TRUST, Mark finally manages to regain his children's trust. Eva and Lydia cannot believe that Petra has betrayed the principles of their own program and put pressure on her exactly where it hurts. After Nader finds incriminating evidence of Yara's involvement in the robberies in her room, the conflict with his sister and her old gang escalates.