Die schönste Bescherung (2024)

Erfurt, two days before Christmas Eve. Leonie and Kian Rigi have been living separately for some time. While Leonie, who runs a stall at the Erfurt Christmas market during Advent, has found new happiness with Jesper, a student who helps out in her arts and crafts workshop, Kian is suffering at the prospect of having to move out of their shared apartment for good after the holidays. For the sake of their two children, Sima and Elyas, the former couple wants to give them as normal a Christmas as possible despite the circumstances. But Elyas, who refuses to passively accept his parents’ separation, has already set Kian’s mother in motion: that very evening, Grandma Britta and Grandpa Navid turn up unannounced and promptly settle in with the children for the holidays, claiming they cannot stay at home for the time being because of a fire in their room. Leonie is not at all pleased by the spontaneous visit, but at first makes an effort to put on a good face. However, when Britta insists on helping her with sales and, in front of Jesper, once again gives unsolicited advice about how Leonie might still save her marriage to Kian, a full-blown argument breaks out over dinner. Shortly afterward, Elyas, who had run out of the room earlier, cannot be found in the apartment. The family suspects he has gone to the summerhouse belonging to Leonie’s late mother, where he left his stuffed animal that afternoon. Leonie and Kian set off at once to look for him, but as soon as they arrive, they get word from home: Elyas had simply climbed up to the attic. A severe thunderstorm ultimately forces the two of them to spend the night at the summerhouse, where they reflect amicably on the end of their relationship. When they return to the apartment the next morning, they find a baby on the doorstep, with a note attached reading, “For Kian Rigi.” Kian fears the child may be the result of a one-night stand the previous spring, but although he soon manages to establish that he is not the baby’s father, Leonie is initially stunned. Kian, a youth worker, eventually identifies his former charge, 16-year-old Mascha, as the child’s mother. She refuses to talk to him, but at Kian’s request she confides in Leonie, who advises Mascha to reconsider her decision and invites her and the child’s father, Reiko, to the family’s Christmas celebration. When the doorbell rings during dinner, Mascha and Reiko are there to visit their daughter. The family and their guests gather in the living room to exchange presents, where the Christmas tree suddenly catches fire, making everyone jump up.