her daughter Nina. Elisabeth's marriage with Arno is loving but challenged through Arno's stubbornness. The marriage becomes even more troubled when Elisabeth starts an affair with the much younger Luke Esser who hopes that she might leave Arno for him. Elisabeth eventually decides to stay with Arno and work on their problems. Over time the two start to grow apart and Elisabeth then leaves Arno for Johannes von Lahnstein. Johannes' children don't approve of Elisabeth at first. But over time all become to love her and see her as part of the family accept for Johannes' eldest son Ansgar. Her marriage to Johannes is short lived when he is presumed dead after his plane gets lost from the radar on a way to a business trip. After Johannes' death it becomes her priority to keep the family together. She later falls in love with Johannes' brother Ludwig but has a rival in Maria di Balbi. Ludwig decides to be with Elisabeth which causes Maria to have a nervous breakdown. She even goes as far as threatening to kill herself and Ludwig. Maria doesn't succeed and Ludwig and Elisabeth have a happy marriage for some time. After a boat accident Ludwig and his son Hagen are presumed dead. Hagen later returns and tells Elisabeth that Ludwig has died on a desert island in his arms. Elisabeth moves on with the young and attractive Ben Schöne. Over time she also becomes aware that butler Justus Stiehl has a crush on her on which both never act. Storylines Elisabeth comes to Düsseldorf to visit her daughter Nina. She starts to interfere in Nina's relationship with Erika Sander until Nina tells her to stop. Elisabeth is a hard working businesswoman who inherited the American cosmetic company Ryan Cosmetics from her late husband. After she starts visiting Düsseldorf on a regular basis, Elisabeth decides to relocate to be near to her daughter. She eventually starts to fall for constructor Arno Brandner (Konrad Krauss). After Elisabeth moves in with him, her niece Lara Cornelius (Karoline Schuch) comes to town after Elisabeth's sister Irene gets seriously ill. Lara moves in with Elisabeth and Arno. Irene eventually dies and Lara finds out that she is in fact Nina's daughter and therefore Elisabeth's granddaughter. Nina explains to her daughter that she was too young to take care of her and she and Elisabeth decided that it'd be better if