Badly paid jobs, divorces; the highs and lows of life as an artist or a reckless propensity for the finer things in life – the reasons for poverty in old age are as varied as the women themselves, but the only remedies are creativity and solidarity. Erika, a retired teacher, Lilli, an unsuccessful musician, Anna, a widowed spendthrift, and Ursula, a nurse with a fatal fondness for exotic love affairs, set up ‘Learn with Gran’, organise flea markets, bake cakes and cultivate Erika’s allotment. When that isn’t enough, they decide to try their luck with rather less legitimate tactics …

Born into a Jewish pre-war family in Vienna, Fritzi’s childhood is characterised by visits to the Viennese Prater and early romances. As a young woman, she flees to England to escape Nazi persecution. She marries Theo, returns to Vienna and is a vivacious and warm-hearted mother to her daughter Lea. But sometimes, Fritzi is so overcome with a nameless sorrow that she cannot get out of bed in the morning. Later, her daughter Lea’s life also seems to be a success, full to the brim with marriage, children, grandchildren and career. Yet she too is haunted by dark dreams and family memories. When more and more people arrive in Vienna fleeing war and terror in Syria and Afghanistan, this challenges Lea’s feeling of helplessness and her successful life threatens to fall apart.

Lilly spends seven summers with her Italian friends on Sardinia, savoring the uncomplicated, delightful air of an endless vacation – and time spent with Gianni, who is the opposite of a Latin lover, but impossible to forget. Seven winters bring Lilly back to Vienna and the unpleasant routine of her daily life: Her ex-husband has a new, young girlfriend, her best friend dies of cancer, and her father comes out of the closet and writes a tell-all book about it. And so Lilly escapes into a fantasy world, dreaming of life with Gianni, of having a child. But the last summer forces her to finally bring her wishes and reality face to face.

Emma, senior citizen in Vienna, lives in a world where things aren't like they used to be: her new Turkish daughter-in-law is pregnant, her granddaughter Luzie wears jeans that are way too tight and her ex-husband Georg is killed by a well-deserved stroke. Sarema is from Grozny. She is only alive thanks to her desperate courage: the Chechen War has left her with nothing, but she and her son Shamil manage to escape to Austria with the help of human smugglers. Sarema is seeking asylum and Emma needs help at home after an accident. Their paths cross, their lives connect – how far will Emma go to help Sarema?

A man and a woman. She: Pernilla Brigido, once an acclaimed theater actress, now a charmingly elegant, vivacious septuagenarian member of Vienna's society. He: Ildefons Krehmayr, known as Illo, affluent master builder, divorcee and father of a puberty-struck daughter. He's twenty years younger and has led a life with temperate passions and ambitions. Coincidence crosses their paths and so begins a ravishingly outrageous love story that Pernilla and Illo waltz through with the grace of well-trained dancers. Until one of them makes a wrong move and oversteps a boundary better left uncrossed. But when the curtain rises once again, the two star-crossed lovers have already set out on a summery roadtrip…

What's to be done when ordinary life simply becomes too much? When your mother has to go into residential care and the family home must be cleared out and let. When everyone expects the narrator to finally look for a sensible job and start a family? When normality-induced melancholia hits, there's only one thing for it – hit back. Ideally where it’s least expected. A revolt is instigated in the care home; Jola delivers inflammatory speeches in her sequinned gown; the local youth gang of "domestic poachers" turns life in the small town upside down; a kidnapping morphs into a seaside mini-break, much to the delight of the home's residents. And then suddenly Malina appears. Malina, who’s prepared to do almost anything and sometimes oversteps the mark.