Lorenz Lubota is a city clerk with no direction in life. One day on his way to work he is run over by a woman driving a chariot and he is immediately infatuated with her.
Overwhelmed by personal and professional problems, biologist Friedrich von Kammacher decides to travel abroad in order to regain the joy of living. During his adventurous journey he will meet two very different women, one of whom will be the key to his fate.
Soon after World War II, a pregnant Polish refugee, Pauline, wanders Berlin looking for the boyfriend who abandoned her. She has no option but to sell her child to another woman, Anna. After the birth, Pauline decides she wants the baby back.
