The death of his wife reduces King Tobalt to serious despair. All the more so since she made him promise to only marry if his new wife was as beautiful as herself. A hopeless situation, until Tobalt has a putatively saving idea: His daughter Lotte resembles her mother perfectly. She must become his bride! Stunned by her father's plan, Lotte sets him tasks that he can impossibly fulfil. But when he brings her a coat “made of a thousand furs" that disappears in a magic nut, Lotte has no choice but to flee. She slips into the coat and blackens her face with soot before disappearing into the forest - where she runs into the arms of young king Jakob. He takes the “furry creature” back to his castle, where the cook Mathis looks after her. King Jakob is enraptured by Lotte. But then she suddenly disappears ...