Father Scherzer generally buries himself in the books of the castle library, which he is responsible for managing. He is a warm-hearted but somewhat overwhelmed father to his five daughters, ranging from a preschooler to two teenage girls to a successful press photographer who flirts with a dashing dentist. While he is trying to sell the castle to an overbearing American millionaire, the housekeeper quits, and the youth welfare office insists on discipline and order in the five-girl household.