Richard lives apart from his wife. He is unemployed. His life is really not running smoothly right now. Rather by chance, he gets into conversation with the director of his daughter's school, who is desperately looking for teachers - which gives Richard an idea. He is a mathematician. And after all, everyone can become a teacher!
In 1930s Berlin, Dr. Jakob Fabian, who works by day in advertising for a cigarette company and by night wanders the streets of the city, falls in love with an actress. As her career begins to blossom, prospects for his future begin to wane.