Literary adaptation: a handsome youth of humble origins rises in society through his connections made as an elevator attendant in a luxury hotel.
Germany 1945, Max, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, meets a radical group of Jewish resistance fighters, who, like him, lost all hope for their future after they were robbed of their existence and their entire families were killed by the Nazis. They dream of retaliation on an epic scale for the Jewish people. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Max starts identifying with the group's monstrous plans...
Death (in Bavarian: Boandlkramer) is supposed to get little Maxl, but he falls in love with Maxl's mother. Confused by the previously unknown feelings, he confides in the devil. The incarnate persuades him to start a business where the Boandlkramer gets the chance to compete for Gefi as a mortal. Encouraged by the advice of the recently deceased womanizer Max Gumberger, the Boandl stumbles through earthly life in search of eternal love.