Esther has to go into hospital for an urgent operation. At the last moment her best friend announces that she can't look after Esther’s two sons, Bruno and Jonathan. Desperately, Esther calls her brother Hannes for help. Hannes is an eccentric character who insists on everything around him being ordered and regular. For years brother and sister have had no contact. Since then he has devoted himself entirely to his car repair shop and his hobby, vintage cars, while Esther has been struggling through life as a single mother. Hannes agrees to take on the boys, though not without presenting them a long list of rules and regulations. However, boys will be boys, and before long Hannes’ orderly lifestyle is in tatters. He is given unexpected support by the young woman next door, Lilli. She agrees to help look after the boys while Esther is in hospital. And with her cheerful manner she manages to find a chink in his gruff armour; he even ends up inviting her to a vintage car race against his archrival Fritz Kaminski, who is secretly having an affair with Hannes' secretary Maren. But just before the race is due to start dramatic news from the hospital arrive.