Little Sonia lives with her father and grandmother after her mother abandoned the family to start a new life in America. Despite being loved deeply by her father and grandmother, Sonia longs for a maternal figure. Her father, however, refuses to trust another woman after his experience with his wife and decides to show Sonia that a stepmother is not the answer to their problems. In a rundown café on the side of the motorway where Sonia's father regularly parks his truck, he meets barmaid Tamara, a bitter and unhappy woman who agrees to live in his house and act the part of the wicked stepmother. Swearing Sonia's reluctant grandmother to secrecy, her father leaves for a long trip trusting his plan will be a success, however, he underestimates his daughter who still believes in fairy-tales and whose faith in Tamara is the making of her. She and Sonia's grandmother soon see her for the hardworking but unlucky woman that she is and, on his return home, Sonia's father finds his family transformed with a kind, beautiful and loving mother at its head.