Deputy director Sonja Winter is fighting against the closure of "her" zoo, where she lives with her daughter Hanna. However, city councillor Antonia Grewe is determined to push through her plan. Her right-hand man is, of all people, the architect Mark Fechter, whose eight-year-old son Tom is Hanna's friend. When Hanna learns that her old friend "Schulze" is to be put to sleep as part of the lockdown, she and Tom decide to kidnap the penguin...