Set in Germany shortly before the collapse of the Weimar Republic, this romantic drama chronicles the travails of an impoverished newlywed couple who leave their home village and move in with the groom's stepmother in bustling Berlin to find success. The husband gets a small job in a department store and things are okay until they discover that the stepmother is really a notorious madame and runs an exclusive brothel. This leads the groom to quit his job and take his pregnant bride on the road in search of opportunity. The plot is based on a novel by Hans Fallada.