Character's Background
Shy and good-hearted, Jana Brandner arrives with her siblings Robin (Nils Brunkhorst) and Nico von Lahnstein (Verena Zimmermann) in October 2002 and hopes to find a new home with Arno Brandner (Konrad Krauss), their uncle. Her father Achim (Matthias Haase) left the family when she was young and Jana had to grow up in foster homes.
After a few days, Jana falls in love with Andi Fritzsche (Dominic Saleh-Zaki), but he is in a relationship with Franziska von Beyenbach (Lina Tiedtke). After a fire, the drunk Andi kisses Jana and she reciprocates. Jana has a guilty conscience about the kiss and tells Franziska the truth. She can't believe that and breaks up with Andi. Jana hopes that she and Andi will have a future, when he is over his relationship with Franziska. Nico can't stand Andi and doesn't want him involved with Jana. But Jana can't hide her feelings any longer and tells Andi how she feels about him. In the beginning, Andi doesn't know how to react, but then he realizes that he is in love with her too. Andi tells Jana that he loves her, and they begin a relationship.
In 2007, Jana begins a passionate affair with her good friend Leonard von Lahnstein (Lars Korten). She falls madly in love with him and they later marry in a beautiful ceremony. However, she soon realizes that he is still in love with Sarah Hofmann (Sina-Valeska Jung), who he once believed was his half-sister. Leonard and Sarah have a one-night-stand, which Jana discovers, but decides to forgive them.
Leonard and Jana decide to make a fresh start in Chicago. On the day of their leaving party, Sarah begs Leonard not to leave her. Jana overhears their conversation and confronts Sarah. They have a heated argument and a furious Jana gets in her car to take drive and Sarah gets in with her. Jana loses control of the car and they have a terrible accident. A short time after this, Jana suffers a pulmonary embolism and dies in the hospital with Leonard and Sarah by her side. All of Jana's loved ones are heartbroken over her death, particularly Nico.
The von Lahnsteins set up The Jana von Lahnstein Foundation in her honor.
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