Katie Fforde: Room with sea view

Boarding school director Julia is looking for her fake groom and accidentally finds the great love.

The mature Julia has achieved everything and has everything under control, only in love things are not going well. After a big flop, she has to decide whether she wants to trust a man again and embark on the adventure of love once more.

Rarely has boarding school principal Julia Gardener (Catherine Bode) looked forward to her summer vacation so much: she’s getting married! The man of her dreams, John, is already waiting for her at an idyllic summer house on a dreamy island off the US coast. When Julia arrives there, she can hardly believe her eyes: the beach house turns out to be a musty diner, and instead of John, a grumpy fisherman named Rick (Thomas Unger) lives there. Julia has fallen for a marriage swindler – and in the house, which doesn’t seem to exist, are not only her entire savings, but also, of all things, her mother Carla’s (Beatrice Richter) retirement savings. When raising her daughters, Carla was always particularly keen that the two should never become financially dependent on men, certainly not by getting married.

Time is running out, Julia wants to turn in her missing groom before it all comes out. Together with the patent island policewoman Sergeant Molly Pepper (Petra Kleinert), she sets out on his trail. At the same time, she begins to enjoy the simple island life, and Julia and Rick grow closer. But then she discovers a connection between Rick and the missing John….

The script for this comedic quest for happiness was penned by Astrid Ruppert and directed by Helmut Metzger in a fast-paced setting on the Boston coast: The “Katie Fforde” love story celebrates life, which indeed fulfills many a dream – but in a different way than planned….

Photos: © ZDF/Rick Friedman