Annika is delighted but sometimes wonders about the missing piece of the puzzle: the mystery of her real mother and why she was abandoned. When the beautiful, rich Frau Edeltraut von Tannenberg comes to the professors household and announces she is Annika’s long lost mother, Annika is delighted. Her mother takes her to Spittal, the family's estate in Germany, and she meets her brother Hermann, her uncle Oswald, and her cousin Gudrun, but she doesn’t enjoy it. The mansion is derelict and gloomy, the walls are crumbling, and the paint peeling. Due to her newfound membership of the aristocracy, she is forbidden from attending the village school or helping with domestic chores. She meets a friendly Romany/gypsy boy called Zed who works on the farm and cares for Hermann's horse Rocco. Although her friends back in Vienna are pleased for Annika they can't help but feel uneasy about the whole thing - especially Ellie.