As Germany's fortunes in the latter part of World War II wane, several young boys, in their enthusiasm to do something "for the fatherland", volunteer to fight with the German army in the East. Horrified at the news that their children left for the Russian front, the boys' mothers begin a desperate...
Widow Lührs only receives a meagre pension and is therefore reliant on supplementary income, so she plays commercial cards without permission! One day, farmer Henck from Schandeloh appears at her house, who wants to scare his bossy wife with the help of the cards. Wilhelmine Lührs hesitates, but...
In the post-war period, the young farmer Heiko Herkens secretly distils beet schnapps in a hidden alcove with his farmhand Jan Spinn, has fun with Fleet Helga, the gendarme's daughter, and enjoys his life after the war and imprisonment. The maid Taline, who has lived on the farm with Jan for years,...
Meta Boldt misses nothing in the house of master butcher Tramsen. She is firmly convinced that unsustainable conditions would prevail and order would be lost if she did not keep the landlord constantly informed of all the news. Unfortunately, Meta Boldt can't find out everything through glimpses...
With his human nature and good-natured character, Police Master Johannes Wilke has everything under control. For this reason, he can afford to enjoy a glass of schnapps and play chess on the phone while on duty. Both his colleague Benthin and Pastor Petersen are not at all happy with such an...
Fisherman Hannes Högermann and his nephew Klaus have "salvaged" seventeen sacks of coffee from a stranded ship at night and stowed them in his cellar. Hermann Achner, who works for a coffee broker, is called in to get rid of the loot at a reasonable price. Instead of Hermann Achner, however, the...
Erna, the daughter of a Hamburg coastal skipper, loses her fiancé to the sea. In her grief, she first flees to relatives, then takes her fate into her own hands and starts working for a shipowner in Blankenese. When she slowly begins to develop feelings for a man again, he turns out to be a...
A day in the lives of a Hamburger couple Jan and Renate. A few days ago they moved to Wilhelmsburg. There they have to build a child's room, but they lack the money.
Widow Brasse goes to great lengths to support her children and her elderly grandfather. Poverty and irritation are a constant state of affairs in the family, as there is not enough money to go around, even though Johanna Brasse washes clothes for strangers day after day. But as life goes, one day...
Exciting things happen on Captain Brass' small cargo ship on the last day in port: a windy "doctor" turns the captain on to a strange new ship's pharmacy, in which the medicines are replenished free of charge by his staff in every port of call. The "curbside swallow" Olga has long known that this...