Westenwind

- Season 1

(1999)

Jacob De Graaf's Dutch shipyard is nearly bankrupt, so likely to be bought by rival Max Noordermeer. His wife gets son Marco, a brilliant naval engineer, who always warned they needed to modernize, to return home. Max welcomes his daughter Fleur and astray son Anton, who behind his back uses illegals fro cheap waste treatment. Marco gets a visit from (ex?) lover Fleur, whose husband Maurits is surprised by her pregnancy, but soon welcomes it. Fleur refuses to resume a sexual relationship with Marco, but can't deny still to love him. Charlotte cheats on her husband, ...

Fleur finds and rescues Marco passed out in the water, beaten up while intruding the Noordermeer shipyard, where De Graaf plans are used illegally. His father, Jacob, still won't even listen. The Indonesian, Keela Bangor, shows up at Max's claiming Mr. Noordermeer is her baby's father. His wife Sofie doubts his denial, but in fact she meant Anton, whose toxic waste disposal subcontractor's team is experiencing health problems.

Now Marco has exposed the theft of his design by Noordermeer, its lawyer Pierre wants to quit, until his (actually adulterous) wife Charlotte uses sex to make him stay and finds a loophole: reverse engineering. Maurits discovers in bed that his bride Fleur dreams of Marco. De Graaf is down to pawning family jewels to postpone bankruptcy. Marco trust his new engine screw design can save the wharf, but Jacob feels building a prototype is no longer within their means.

Noordermeer now risks losing a major Greek shipbuilding order itself. Charlotte and haughty mother, Iris, finds a way out. Marco can't get a bank loan for his prototype. Sophie has moved out and found a flirtatious friend in Victor Wijndels. Max suspects Marco of helping Keela making the video that drove Sophie away. The pollution victims' condition worsens, but Anton's cahoot locks the illegals up.

Max suspects Marco of helping Keela making the video that drove Sophie away and gets very drunk. Secretary Marleen warns him Charlotte plans to deal with the Portuguese behind his back- too late, their bickering makes Iris pull rank. One of the illegals escapes to seek medical help; the other dies and his corps is dumped. Anton has his cahoot Willem Bakx play a fairly respectable entrepreneur to reassure Max, who smells a rat. Maurits presses Fleur to tell her family. Jacob decides to go for Marco's project, which requires selling personal luxuries.

Now Keela has presented baby Junior to Anton as his son, he's confused and thinks of damage control. Iris tells max to forget Sophie and take control of his life and the shipyard. Charlotte taunts him till he looses his temper and is sent home by Iris. The prototype costs every luxury, but brings Marco back into the family fold. Charlotte tries to seduce Abdullah into spying on Marco, even if that requires making him jealous with colleague Fatih Kazarjan. Instead he resigns, and steals Noordermeer company secrets. Maurits fights to get Marco away from his wife Fleur.

Haughty Charlotte holds a triumphant press conference flaunting 'her' success. Jacob enjoys working with Marco, but his already terminal cardiac condition worsens again. Abdullah joins them, with the stolen Noordermeer PC. Secretary Marleen invites Max for a home dinner, but even a massage can't get him relaxed or romantic. Victor makes Sophie happier, but she still won't go all the way. Now the surviving illegal wants to see a doctor with friends, Backx kills him and maims the corps, but Anton refuses to pay him extra. The publicity changes the price and survival ...

Sofie won't believe Max Anton is junior's dad, and stays with Victor, but when he dares her to follow her heart she refuses to make love. Anton's personal confession makes her return home. Max takes her back but forgives neither, Anton is fired. Marleen discovers her ploy to 'free' Max is undone and beleaguers Keela. Jacob's next cardiac attack nearly causes a fatal car accident. The hospital diagnoses a brain tumor. Maurits's parents insist on paying for a traditional classy wedding, but he fears bride Fleur won't agree with 'medieval'. Max returns to work, to learn ...

The press has got wind of the illegal cleaning and bugs ignorant Max. Bakx demands 50,000 Euros to keep quiet, but Anton wants him silenced permanently. Thanks to a professional analysis, Max finds out his enamored secretary, Marleen, made the Junior recording which nearly wrecked his marriage. Jacob leaves hospital to help Marco. Maurits is fed up of Fleur's mood and lack of interest in their wedding preparations. Sofie takes to the illegitimate grandchild and brings the child home, Anton won't have a bar of fatherhood.

Due to Charlotte's greedy contract, Noordermeer desperately needs the extra capacity only buying De Graaf can give them. Max thinks up a way to get it: indirectly pay major creditor Staalenco to demand bankruptcy. Jacob refuses to have surgery meanwhile. Niels is diagnosed in class with concentration problems, but Charlotte refuses to have him properly tested as daddy Pierre wants. Max hires a replacement for Marleen, highly qualified Felix Schippers. Fleur realizes she drove Maurits to pull the plug on their wedding plans.

Pierre comes up with a third way for Noordermeer to finance buying out De Graaf: going to the stock exchange. Max now divulges there's a fourth stockholder even Charlotte never knew about. Sophie flippantly tells Fleur straight-out she's adopted, Max's late sister Myrna biological daughter. Charlotte discovers and tells Max his new secretary Felix is gay. Anton, who is tricked to have a DNA fatherhood test, are furious about over 20 years of secrecy. Pierre has Niels tested, despite Charlotte. Fleur, the mystery no. 4, initially refuses any part in the firm, then ...

Now Anton's DNA test confirms his paternity, Sophie demands that he takes care of Junior and even Keela - he grudgingly signs a marriage license. Pierre is furious that Charlotte puts her arrogance blindly before Niels's educational needs. After the boy runs away, Pierre puts him back in Sascha's class. Jacob finally goes to hospital - by stretcher, having implored his family to stick together. At night, Anton intrudes with chloroform for Marco, but forgot Abdullah who chases him before he can damage the prototype crucially.

Openly disinterested and disgusted, Anton weds Keela on parental instigation. Noordermeer celebrates its impending stock exchange quotation (actually lack of capital) in grand style. Alas, Fleur brings Jamila, the shabby widow of Bakx's illegal toxic accident victim Fatih, and keeps twisting Max's arm in her favor. Pierre gets personally interested in Felix. Jacob coaches Marco on how to call a marker in to make master shipbuilder, Richard Popescu, leave Noordemeer and build his prototype. Pierre proves to Charlotte that Niels lost confidence in her. Anton has a ...

Marco's overt business style 'à la Jacob' appeals to Kofferman, but the Noordermeer board is determined to outbid De Graaf, even at a loss, to buy that wharf after all. Charlotte denies her maternal instincts. After Niels finds out, Pierre seeks comfort from Felix. Anton's drug practices become known to Sam. Opinions differ on Marco's rekindled affair with Fleur.

After crazy visions, Jacob has a cardiac arrest, but pulls through. Max and Charlotte are confident they can win over Kofferman to place his order with them. Pierre finds an outlet for his home frustrations in playing squash with gay office colleague Felix, and kisses him in the sauna. By sitting at dad's side, Marco misses a crucial meeting, and probably the ship order. However Fleur tells him Max can't deliver in time, just in time to warn Kofferman.

Suspecting Pierre of adultery, Charlotte catches him in the act, not with Sascha but Felix! She brags about her own discrete infidelity but ends up spoiling their marriage and starting a fight with Niels for nothing. Marco and Abdullah dread telling the family they have the order but no finance to pay staff. Noordermeer suspects their people are being lured away by Popescu, so Anton buys an ambitious welder as their spy. Just now Anton starts acting as Junior's dad and Keel's husband, she leaves.

Charlotte meanly suggests to Pierre and others that Felix should be fired for her sake. Max refuses to miss either fine employee and Emma laughs at her whining about 'neglected' youth. Sam's false complaints get Anton questioned as an abusive drug suspect, but released with an iron-clad alibi. His spy, Freddy, is fired after an arrogant row with Abdullah, but agrees to sabotage. Keela, leaving with Junior, only hurt Anton's pride, but Sofie feels useless and takes to homeless busker-painter-poet Kasper.

Freddy's welding sabotage has caused a major explosion. Foreman Richard Popescu is killed. Kasper also impresses Emma, but hides a drug problem. Felix is not amused that Pierre seems willing to make up with Charlotte on Max's orders, albeit for Niels's sake. Charlotte lies that the boy doesn't miss Pierre. But his absence, and seeing her with a studly one night-stand Bert make him physically ill, curable only by daddy's comforting. Despite a scolding from Marco, Kofferman stays with De Graaf.

Max starts to worry about delivering a vital order in time, until Charlotte finds a Belgian subcontractor. He is none other than her flirtatious holiday friend Raymond Hendrickx, but Pierre finds a body in his closet. After Marco knocked the stuffing out of Anton, Fleur sides against her lover and leaves. Abdel already slept in new lover Sasha's bedroom, but decides he can't love her truly. Kasper steals again to pay for drugs but is caught and evicted. He's beaten up while working as a prostitute; Sofie takes him in again, to Max's anger.

Only Max still resists considering subcontracting, maybe even to De Graaf. Felix is delighted when Niels offers him a drawing of a home with two daddies, but hesitates to commit to helping Pierre raising him. Kasper breaks in to steal from Emma but she and Fleur catch him. He threatens them with a broken bottle until they cancel the police alert. He ties them up, but a patrol sees broken glass and beleaguers the kidnapper. Sofie talks him out of resorting to violence but breaks her promises this time.

Marco is worried sick that the judge may throw him in jail for violent aggression, but Anton and Max hope so. A cellphone-mix-up makes Fleur discover saboteur Freddy's frequent contacts with Anton. Jacob refuses to attend and so does Max, they must negotiate the subcontracting. Both drive a hard bargain, but Max is over a barrel, only Pierre sincerely admires Jacob's cool professionalism. The judge sees trough Anton's arrogance and fake neck-injury and imposes a merely suspended jail term.

De Graaf entertains Karel Fernhout, the Dutch banker in London who financed their last loan, but learns he intends to use the clause that allows him to turn it into a share worth up to 35% at default. His son Edward Fernhout, in English boarding school, meets and impresses fellow swimmer Sam. Pierre has no more patience with Max as Charlotte refuses co-parenting Niels. Fleur suspects saboteur Freddy and tries to trick him into confessing by posing as a journalist, but Anton prevents that. She apologizes to Marco, who feels that changes nothing, and tells her family, ...

While Sam entertains Edward in Marco's boathouse and gets frisky, yet not quite, Connie tries to sweet-talk pa Karel into softening his credit terms. She rudely refuses to 'pay' in bed, he caves in. Pierre starts working half-time and risks Felix's love to care for Niels, but the judge awards lair Charlotte temporary custody. Unwilling Anton's therapy takes a bumpy start, but nightmares turn him. To max's horror, Marco unwittingly employs his former secretary Marleen.

Edward takes Sam for a nightly illicit sexy swim. Marco is seduced in his boathouse. Warned by a consultant the stock exchange, where they're launching themselves, favors companies with stable leadership and succession, the Noordermeer board agrees Anton is unfit until further notice. Now Niles is temporarily assigned to Charlotte, Pierre is pressed to work full-time again. Sofie discovers Marleen is stalking them, but has a hard time convincing Max, the police won't do anything anyhow.

To Anton's horror the board excludes him from the stock launch roadshow. Emma suggests Fleur could do business school in New Jersey. After a sneer at Marco for moving in on Ellen, Abdullah accepts their affair. Now Edward must return to his London boarding school, he spends a lavish hotel night with Sam. Jacob is ready to hand over the reigns, but ma only accepts if he formally resigns. Max arranges bodyguard John Bijlsma for Sofie against the stalker, yet she dares wine he 'puts the firm first'. Marleen manages to intrude and stab John. Anton makes an embarrassing ...

Trough his own crazy fault, vindictive scorned heir Anton gets hurt in an explosion so badly he needs months of plastic surgery. De Graaf successfully completes the ship order. Noordermeer is running out of orders. Marco goes steady with Ellen while Fleur is at business school in the States.