Zwei Millionen suchen einen Vater (2006)

The film is set mainly on Usedom. After the death of her best friend, Franziska Ehlers, Gabriela Wegner takes care of Franziska’s daughter, Theresa, as well as her hotel, the Seeschlösschen. On Theresa’s eighth birthday, the Dossenbachs arrive at the hotel completely unexpectedly. During a subsequent visit from Ms. Wollin of the youth welfare office, it emerges that Siegfried Dossenbach is the brother of Franziska’s mother and therefore Theresa’s great-uncle. Before she died, Franziska had always asked her friend Gabriela to take care of everything if anything happened to her. But since she left nothing in her will, her next of kin—the Dossenbachs—are entitled to inherit, as Theresa’s father is unknown. Gabriela is not at all happy about this, so after Ms. Wollin has left, she searches through Franziska’s belongings for Theresa’s father. When she finds nothing, she decides to place an ad with her hotel colleague Edda. The ad is titled Two Million Are Looking for a Father. Gabriela and Edda remember exactly where Franziska must have met Theresa’s father. Meanwhile, Siegfried Dossenbach goes to the town hall and tells the mayor that he is related to the owner of the Seeschlösschen. He also tells the mayor that he wants to invest in the hotel. He has big plans for it and wants to turn it into a luxury hotel, so he applies for a permit. Several men promptly respond to the ad, Two Million Are Looking for a Father, and are checked against photos of Franziska. One of them is Tommy Behrens. When he arrives, Theresa jumps off the entrance steps and injures her leg. Tommy immediately looks after her and gets her a bandage and some ice. He, too, is asked about Franziska, and he remembers everything: her name, what she looked like at the time, and exactly how they met. When he is asked to take a paternity test, he agrees. He goes to the doctor to have blood drawn, and Theresa and Gabriela come later to have their blood drawn as well. Tommy then checks into the Seeschlösschen. After Theresa returns to the hotel, the Dossenbachs pick her up and take her shopping, buying the little girl a new dress. They then take her out for lobster, which Theresa doesn’t like. They also promise their great-niece many more wonderful things, such as a balloon ride. When Theresa gets back home, she tells Tommy all about it and explains that the lobster was the most disgusting thing she had ever eaten, and that she much prefers noodles with cheese and ice cream. Tommy responds affectionately once again. The next day, when the Dossenbachs take her on the balloon ride, Theresa feels sick, and Tommy forestalls her nausea by making her chicken broth. The following day, Theresa takes Tommy to a pond with sea otters nearby, her favorite place, which is part of the hotel grounds. The otter pond is called “Herborner Höft.” Tommy likes the otters. While everyone waits for the paternity test results, Tommy grows fond of Theresa and helps her with her math, and Tommy and Gabriela also realize that they are in love. The Dossenbachs, too, suspect that Tommy hasn’t come by chance. They conclude that he is their great-niece’s father and that a paternity test has been done. So they take him on a short outing, and when they drop him back at the hotel, Amelie Dossenbach secretly slips him a check for €20,000. The doctor’s assistant calls and says that the paternity test came back negative, so Tommy cannot be the father. Ms. Wollin then arrives as well so that everything can be resolved. Gabriela learns about the negative result and the check, and throws Tommy out in disgust. He returns to Berlin. Theresa then breaks open her piggy bank and takes the train to Berlin, to the Brandenburg Gate, where Tommy works at the Adlon. At home, Gabriele searches everywhere for her, just as Ms. Wollin arrives, but cannot find her. After Gabriela discovers the broken piggy bank and receives a call from Tommy, she goes to Berlin, where she finds Tommy and Theresa in the hotel kitchen and, relieved, embraces them. Gabriela reproaches Tommy, but he explains that the €20,000 check was simply slipped to him and that he wants to repeat the paternity test. Gabriela, however, takes Theresa with her without a word and returns to Usedom, where she gets to Ms. Wollin’s office at the youth welfare agency just in time. But Ms. Wollin can do nothing more; she has since become convinced that the youth welfare office should recommend the Dossenbachs as Theresa’s guardians, since they can provide her with a good future. Now Gabriele is in emotional turmoil, as she seems to be about to lose everything: Theresa, her great love Tommy, and the hotel. Just as she brings herself to call Tommy and apologize, he suddenly appears at the door. It turns out that the Dossenbachs want to obtain a permit to excavate gravel lying beneath the Höft. But this is the habitat of protected sea otters, and Franziska wanted to have it designated a nature reserve while she was alive. Gabriela, Tommy, Edda, and Theresa then launch a major campaign to show the townspeople and the mayor what the Dossenbachs were planning to destroy. Once Siegfried Dossenbach is exposed in this way, the mayor cancels all the construction contracts connected with him. The story thus gets its happy ending after all. As Tommy, Theresa, and Edda are having breakfast, the doctor’s assistant drops by and has to admit that the samples were mixed up the first time the test was done, but that the second test was carried out correctly. It now turns out that Tommy is indeed Theresa’s father.