This Christmas everything is different at the Wagner family's home. As the family awakens to a loud crash and finds a large elk sitting awkwardly by the chimney in the house. Meet Mr. Moose. He had been preparing for a test flight with Santa Claus's team of reindeer and sleigh when it ended abruptly and he fell out of the sky through the family's roof. However, the children (Bertil and Kiki)'s excitement over the new domestic pet in the family is short lived, because not only has an amateur hunter Pannecke (Jürgen Tarrach) set his sights on the elk, but also Santa would like to have his elk back before the festive season starts.
Luise wants to celebrate a traditional family Christmas this year instead of going on a skiing holiday with her husband Gideon and their two daughters like in the past few years; she's motivated by a text that one of her pupils, Franz, wrote in class. She invites him to join her in her traditional celebration because he doesn't have a big family. But the relatives come bringing all kinds of trouble, beginning with Luise's egotistical mother Ruth.
An unsuccessful pool noodle representative and an ambitious corporate lawyer have nothing in common except for the desire to be at home for Christmas. But fate has other plans for them. Their accidental meeting at Vienna's airport is the beginning of an adventure that soon evolves into a winter odyssey across Eastern Europe.
Zobel and Karl are a long time gay couple who live together in a trailer home with Lizzie, Zobel's spunky daughter from a heterosexual misadventure. Together these three form a team of thieves who eke out an existence as pickpockets. After a botched job, Karl becomes unable to work, forcing Zobel and Lizzie to seek out a new partner. Lizzie recruits Rudolf, the boyishly charming town misfit. Reluctantly, Zobel allows Rudolf to join them but warns him to never break the golden rule: "No exchanging of bodily fluids within the team." This dictum becomes increasingly difficult to live by as Lizzie's cravings and Zobel's own passions toward Rudolf intensify. Eventually, the golden rule is broken by Lizzie...and then again by Zobel (unbeknownst to Lizzie, of course). An intricate love triangle soon develops amongst the three that is shaped by deception, desire, and betrayal.