Alle Kinder brauchen Liebe (2000)

Anna Stolberg runs an orphanage with great dedication. Shortly before Christmas, she receives the shocking news that the lease on the old hunting lodge where the children live has been terminated. She immediately tries to speak with its owner, Friedrich Witt, but he refers her to the real-estate agent Wolfgang Merkel, to whom he has entrusted the matter. Merkel is a cold-hearted businessman and refuses to listen to Anna’s objections. Determined, she takes her case to the city council and tries to convince the men how important the home is, but she seems to get nowhere. No one wants to support her because converting the lodge would create space for a retirement home and bring money into the city’s coffers. Desperate, Anna—with the support of her friend, country doctor Dr. Robert Flimm, the formidable housekeeper Hella Roth, and the good-natured caretaker Hans Reichert—tries to avert the impending eviction and save the children’s home. The children also want to help and sell handmade items at the Christmas market to raise money for the rent. During an encounter with the landowner Friedrich Witt, little Georgina manages to touch the old man’s heart. But just as Witt is ready to give in, he discovers that Merkel has double-crossed him and that he no longer has any control over his property. Jürgen Hertweck, Anna’s deputy, had allowed himself to be drawn into the scheme because Merkel promised him the position of director of the retirement home. When Merkel presents his proposal to the city and reveals his concrete plans—to have the historic lodge demolished and replaced with a modern building—he is told by the city council that the hunting lodge is a listed historic building and is also burdened by a large mortgage. He suspects that the officials have joined forces with Witt to thwart him and his fraudulent scheme. Seeing his plans foiled, he knows he has lost. Furious, he tears up the contract with Witt and leaves town. Overjoyed to be the hunting lodge’s owner again, Witt resolves to give the building to Anna and the children after it has been thoroughly renovated at his expense. They all spend Christmas Eve there together, and Witt happily joins in singing the Christmas carol “Silent Night, Holy Night.”