Weihnachtstöchter (2020)

Shortly before Christmas Eve, Johann König, founder and head of the König Brot industrial bakery, is killed in a car accident while swerving to avoid something. Instead of a will, he leaves his three very different daughters, Regina, Katarina, and Diana, who have three different mothers and are distant from one another, only a note reading, “Don’t argue!” Since the half-sisters are now legally entitled to equal shares of the estate, König’s company lawyer and executor, Thomas Dernbach, feels compelled to force the three women to reach an agreement: the bank is threatening to call in the loans to their father’s financially troubled bakery at the turn of the year. Only a mortgage on the family home, which they have also inherited, could still secure the continuation of the business, which employs forty people. At Dernbach’s suggestion, Regina, Katarina, and Diana reluctantly gather for a few days at their father’s house, where old wounds are reopened and arguments break out over what to do with the possessions. Each sister is also dealing with her own troubles and worries: Roger, the husband of Regina, a patisserie owner, has just lost his job, and after buying an expensive property, the couple suddenly find themselves short of money; middle daughter Katarina dreams of a more independent life, but feels trapped in her job as an employee at an orphanage, which is also in financial difficulty; meanwhile, health problems plague Diana, a nightclub owner and the youngest, stemming from an aneurysm recently diagnosed in her. Regina and Roger decide to take advantage of the situation and secretly search the house for supposedly valuable paintings said to be hidden there. But when housekeeper Ewa catches Roger snooping one night, mistakes him for a burglar, and knocks him out with a frying pan, their secrecy is in danger of being exposed. Regina tries to escape the situation, but on an impulsive drive home through the snow she runs over a man dressed as Santa Claus and promptly ends up in the emergency room with him. The next morning, Roger, a former locksmith, helps pick a lock, but it turns out his efforts are in vain: no valuables are hidden in the basement. Meanwhile, Ewa and Diana take care of Amanda, an orphan girl who has traveled there with Katarina without her knowledge and hidden herself in the house. The traumatized girl has not spoken since her parents died in an accident, but finds confidantes in the sisters, who want to give her a new home and consider adopting her. While Katarina and Thomas Dernbach grow closer, Regina learns of Diana’s diagnosis. The two sisters finally talk things through and, together with Katarina, decide to put their disagreements aside and accept their father’s inheritance in order to save König Brot from bankruptcy. United, the family celebrates Christmas together.