A king has a daughter, Princess Isabella of Geranium, who is so beautiful that kings and princes come from miles around in hopes of winning her hand in marriage. But although she is beautiful, she is also proud and arrogant, and constantly insults and rejects her suitors. She even rejects noble Prince Richard of Begonia, and mocks him as "King Thrushbeard," even though she secretly likes him. Finally, her father loses patience with his rude daughter and declares that since she has rejected every man who has come to court her, she will be married to the first beggar who comes to the gate.

On September 15, 2008, the financial world faces its worst crisis since the end of the Second World War. Lehman Brothers, one of the world's largest investment banks, goes bankrupt. Savings banks and their customers in Germany are particularly hard hit. Landlords Claudia and Torsten Büttner also lose all their savings as a result of the crash and are unscrupulously cheated by their bank advisors. They include savings bank employee Arno Breuer, who reluctantly sells Lehman certificates, and young online banker Nele Fromm, who is driven by ambition and potential bonuses.