Wenn Weihnachten wahr wird (2003)

Railway employee Marie Strasser has lived alone with her daughter Lena in the quiet town of Schönberg ever since separating from her husband, Robert. Unlike Lena, who eagerly looks forward to spending time together as a family, Christmas-averse Marie has little idea what to do with the holidays—especially when, shortly before Christmas Eve, she sees Robert and his new partner heading off from the station for a vacation in Mauritius. Marie now feels compelled to confess to Lena that her father will not be with them at Christmas for the first time. But before mother and daughter get a chance to talk, Lena falls through the ice while ice-skating three days before the holidays and slips into a coma. Two months pass before the girl wakes from unconsciousness. Marie, who has spent day and night at her daughter’s bedside in the meantime, is overjoyed. However, chief physician Dr. Michael Hein advises her to tell Lena, who is suffering from retrograde amnesia, only gently that she has been in a coma for several weeks. Marie therefore decides to let Lena believe that the holidays are still just around the corner, and calls on the community to bring Christmas back to life for Lena once more. Her neighbors and her brother Hannes, the town’s mayor, are initially baffled by the plan, as they are already preparing for a flower festival intended to make the town more attractive to tourists. In the end, though, everyone pitches in to give Lena the impression, when she is discharged, that it is still December 24.