Ein Vater zu Weihnachten (2001)

Journalist Julia Letowski, who was abandoned by her boyfriend Robert while she was pregnant, has been a single mother for years. To avoid awkward truths, she lets her nine-year-old daughter Taffy believe that her father is an important polar explorer who is away on an expedition to the North Pole. When her classmates once again doubt that her father exists, Taffy tells her mother that she wants to spend Christmas with her father for once—otherwise, she refuses to take part in the planned school performance. Feeling cornered, Julia decides to hire a “rental father” through a newspaper ad, but auditions for the candidates come to nothing. In desperation, she asks her eccentric colleague Volker to pretend to be Robert. At first, the deception seems perfect. When Volker temporarily moves in with the mother and daughter in his role, Taffy is overjoyed to finally meet her father after all these years. But the very next morning, the charade is in danger of being exposed when the real Robert unexpectedly turns up at the door. Julia initially brusquely turns him away with another lie. But when Robert invites himself to dinner at Volker’s that evening, he discovers that Julia has only hired Volker and that Taffy is his daughter. As old feelings for Robert resurface in Julia after they meet again several times, Volker, of all people, develops feelings for Julia while continuing to play along for Taffy’s sake. When Robert and Volker finally clash at Taffy’s school performance, the deception is exposed, and a devastated Taffy runs off. Shortly afterward, Julia finds her daughter at the planetarium and is able to talk things through with her, while Volker stops Robert at the airport from making an abrupt return trip to the United States. When Julia hears about this, she follows Volker on a sled and thanks him with a kiss. They celebrate Christmas Eve together with Taffy, Robert, their friend Agnes, and her son Niklas.