Businessman and shameless social climber, Julius Lampe, is subjected to a cruel April Fools’ Day prank when he is led to believe a noble prince intends to personally inspect his pasta factory.
A sculptor, an enemy of modern art, sets an example. He sculpts a statue of Venus in the style of the Greek antiquity and buries it in a forest. When it's dug up in 1930, it's considered to be a 2 000 year old, antique statue.
A group of people gathers back in the post-war ruins of a luxurious Munich hotel they inhabited at one point or another years before; each trying to cope with the tragic consequences of the war and their own actions.
Impresario Adler is imprisoned for insulting an official and therefore unable to negotiate an important concert tour with opera singer Lauri Volpi. In his place, he convinces Friedel, a pretty music student, to travel to Venice to meet the famous tenor. In her travels, Friedel sends postcards...
