Volkmar Stenzel is a branch manager as it stands: correct, responsible and always there for customers. But guys like the 57-year-old are just as little needed in the global financial world as branches in rural areas. When the Chinese company, which has just swallowed his Frankfurt-based bank, sends him the young careerist Tutz to process "his" branch, Stenzel feels worthless and "has fallen off the train". He protests against injustice and finally shows what his wife Barbara has been demanding of him for a long time: courage. With money from the dead bank account of a deceased person, he gives the urgently needed transition loan to the ailing daycare center in which his deceased daughter went. His white lie that it is a question of financing from a special secret fund soon attracts other interested parties. Intoxicated by his actions, Stenzel granted further "special loans" - also to the young street musician Jana, who reminded him of his daughter - and thus ensured a surprising upswing in the sleepy town. Unfortunately, there is a catch: If not all loans have been repaid by the time the branch closes on Christmas Eve, Stenzel comes to the devil's kitchen.