In the mid-1870s, landowner Varvara Stavrogina and Professor Stepan Verkhovensky are the center of society. Stavrogina's son Nikolai and Verkhovensky's son Pyotr are staying in Geneva. There, Nikolai becomes engaged to the lovely Lisa Tushina. However, he is already to be married to another.

Alex, Fedja, Timo and Lara are four troubled teens for whom the upcoming Christmas eve isn't a time of peace and joy: Since they all have a history of escalating family conflicts, they'll be spending the holidays not at home, but in a psychiatric ward. The utterly different adolescents not only have to adjust to one another, but also have to confront themselves in exhausting therapy sessions. Yet thanks to the unorthodox psychiatrist Dr. Wolf, the sessions take a turn for the unexpected - and the four experience a Christmas which they will never forget.