Winter’s Daughter

Exactly on Christmas Eve eleven-year-old Kattaka learns that Daniel, with whom she has lived since her childhood days, is not her father. In fact, her biological father is a Russian sailor, whose name is Alexei and who does not even know he has a daughter. His ship has just berthed in the Polish port of Szczecin. Disappointed by her mother’s lie, Kattaka insists to be allowed to go and see her father immediately. Fortunately Lene, their 75-yearold neighbour and family friend, agrees to take her to Poland in her old “Barkas”. Kattaka’s mother has no choice but to agree, so the two of them start out right away during the Christmas holidays. On the road they notice that Kattaka’s best friend Knäcke is also on board of the old car. He just cannot let his friend go on this adventurous journey alone. And this trip is really adventurous. When they arrive in Szczecin, the Russian container ship is already heading for Gdansk. So they continue driving through the cold, snow-covered Polish countryside and Kattaka gradually realizes that she is not the only one looking for something lost, but Lene as well. Originally she comes from Masuria and had to escape from her homeland as a child at the end of World War II. Now she finally wants to face her previously repressed past.