Pre-teen foundling Emil and slightly older middle class orphan Inga seek to comfort each-other in the pitiful conditions at Mrs. Landfried's orphanage. She sells the shoes the produce in a Dickensian poorhouse workshop but keeps most profits, only ambitious eldest turned foreman Franz gets a bonus. For Christmas, the kids must sell I town the sets of matchsticks she bargained as bonus with the shoes, the winner gets a goose helping, sub)standard sale means a caning. After chasing the duo from the lucrative market, Frans wins and even gets to cane Emil, but lets him off with loud pretense. Inga ran away, dreaming in the rundown family home of her late parents welcoming her home whenever she strikes a match. Emil informs the homonymous friendly cop they met on the market, who sees the tyrant is replaced by a proper administrator.
—KGF Vissers