Ein Vater für Klette (2003)

Nine-year-old Linda, a child in care, meets balloonist Oliver at a Christmas market and gets it into her head that he should become her new father. She runs away from the home and refuses to leave Oliver’s side. Oliver, who loves ballooning and his freedom, repeatedly tries to get rid of the silent little stranger, but fails, so he gives her the nickname “Barnacle.” Barnacle keeps visiting him, which is also noticed by his neighbor, whom he doesn’t care for. Oliver eventually gets Linda to talk. She tells him that she lives with her grandmother, who is glad when Linda isn’t at home all the time. Linda also tries to set Oliver up with his kind neighbor, even though he already has a new girlfriend named Jessica. Oliver gets used to living with Barnacle, and also grows accustomed to his neighbor Vera. On Christmas Eve, all three sit together at the table in the apartment, and things seem to be slowly unfolding just as Linda had hoped. But then the youth welfare office steps in. Linda is sent back to the home. Oliver is unhappy that Barnacle is gone. He decides to adopt her. He turns his life around and proposes to Vera. In the end, Linda gets what she has longed for so deeply: a father and even a mother as well, so she eventually hopes for a little sibling too.