The kind Marie Meyer always has an ear for the worries of others. When she meets Tommy, a boy with asthma whose mother died in an accident, she becomes his fairy godmother.

Marie runs a bookshop in Torgau with a great deal of idealism. As business is not going well, she has taken a job as a seamstress in a toy factory. The future of this traditional business is not looking good either, as the company has been sold to a large toy group. Although managing director Klaus Sandmann claims to want to continue running the company, it soon transpires that the sly manager actually wants to close the factory. This once again awakens Marie's fighting spirit: together with her colleagues, she forges a cunning plan to save the company.