Capitan Paulsen and his crew set course for ravishingly beautiful Malaysia in the Gulf of Thailand. For Martin Pollack the journey to Kuala Lumpur is more of a curse than a blessing. He’s the key witness in a Mafia trial and he’s supposed to start a new life in Malaysia under a fake name. Accompanying him is the attractive but distant Lena Rüthers, who works for the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation. When the two of them get to know each other better during their last dinner, the distance between them that has now disappeared threatens to become a problem. Lena can just manage to drop Pollack off under a pretense at her local contact agent, and she declares her last case as a professional for closed. But then Pollack suddenly shows up on board again.
The journey also involves an emotional upheaval for the married couple Maria and Paul Bronski, who are friends of Captain Paulsen. Paul turned his back on the business world a while ago on the insistence of his wife. It was Maria’s idea to take the trip to Malaysia, and for the most part it was supposed to calm down Paul’s business drive. But it’s not long before Paul feels bored, and so he starts sticking his nose more and more into the work of the ship’s maintenance man Julian Helfer. When a shore excursion to Kuala Lumpur doesn’t take his mind off things, Maria is at the end of her wits. To her it’s obvious: Something desperately has to change.
A big change is also in store for Captain Paulsen: He bought the old house he grew up in and he wants to devote himself entirely to renovating it. For this reason, this journey on the M.S. Deutschland is a very special one – it will be his last. He keeps his plans a secret from his crew and friends for a long time. When the time comes and he makes his announcement, everyone is perplexed. The news hits Beatrice, his colleague and confidante of many years, especially hard. Dr. Wolf Sander was the only one he had let in on his secret, and with the energetic support of the entire crew he presents Captain Paulsen with a very special farewell gift.
