Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern plot
Inga grows up in an orphanage. She has to work hard for headmistress Landfried, who takes the orphans harshly. Inga and her best friend Emil are regularly punished, but still stay together. On a cold Christmas day, Inga, Emil and the other kids in town have to sell matchsticks. After a while Emil returns, but Inga persists, despite the cold. Suddenly a stranger appears who is said to have known her deceased parents. Together with him she moves to the house where they once lived as a family. When she lights a match there to have some light, she suddenly sees the faces of her parents. When Emil goes looking for her afterwards, he finds her with a smile on her face, frozen to death. Years later, Emil is in charge of the orphanage himself. He does things completely differently from the previous director.