Norbert and Traute get married and are now looking for a home. He is an accountant and doesn't attach much importance to things that are desirable to many others - the main thing is to live well and celebrate the festivals as they fall. She is a typist and is only used to cleanliness and correctness at home. For financial reasons, she cannot afford her own apartment for the time being. Either the rent is too high or the building cost subsidy is too high. So the young couple decide to live with Traute's parents for the time being. However, Norbert, who grew up in completely different circumstances, leaves after ten months. In order to keep her husband, Traute decides to live with him at his parents' - but that doesn't work out either.

Sculptor Max Kolbe has rented a room with the Käselau family as a "furnished gentleman" to escape his love-struck bride and to work in peace for an exhibition. But he is not safe from anything in this tenement: the women's lives seem to be dominated by gossip, curiosity and envy. But the men are no better! Kolbe's false name and his actions arouse the strongest suspicions in the house: why doesn't he go to work? Is he doing shady business? What are the young ladies looking for with him?

Meta Boldt misses nothing in the house of master butcher Tramsen. She is firmly convinced that unsustainable conditions would prevail and order would be lost if she did not keep the landlord constantly informed of all the news. Unfortunately, Meta Boldt can't find out everything through glimpses through the keyhole and overheard conversations. Slowly but surely, her half-truths get her into trouble with everyone in the house, especially as she can't keep her mouth shut...

Widow Lührs only receives a meagre pension and is therefore reliant on supplementary income, so she plays commercial cards without permission! One day, farmer Henck from Schandeloh appears at her house, who wants to scare his bossy wife with the help of the cards. Wilhelmine Lührs hesitates, but ham, sausage and money finally persuade her to change her mind. She lays out the cards for Mrs. Henck just as her husband had wished. But the fraud is discovered and Mrs. Lührs has to appear before the public prosecutor. But even in court, the ludicrous Wilhelmine manages to use her wisdom to cleverly get out of the affair.

In the post-war period, the young farmer Heiko Herkens secretly distils beet schnapps in a hidden alcove with his farmhand Jan Spinn, has fun with Fleet Helga, the gendarme's daughter, and enjoys his life after the war and imprisonment. The maid Taline, who has lived on the farm with Jan for years, knows nothing about the moonshine still. However, this life of lottery is a thorn in her side. How she longs for Heiko to marry a righteous farmer's wife and for peace and order to finally return to the farm!

The village tailor Witt has been burgled, and he himself has received a nasty blow to the head! The seriousness of the crime means that the gendarme in charge does not investigate the case alone - the new head of the district is eager to take over. The head of the parish, Kreyenborg, slyly supports the criminal investigation by getting help from his servant Willem, a man of "plietscher Dröhnbüdeligkeit (a charmingly clever annoyance)". The young vet Renken is also happy to help him, which his daughter Lena warmly welcomes. After confusing statements from Trina, the tailor's wife, the question arises: is there something to cover up?

The cozy harbor pub "Störtebeker" is run by the ship's cook Karl Brammer together with his wife Mary. One day Karl is caught in a small smuggling operation and is sent to prison for three months. Mary prefers to conceal the truth and tells him that her husband is back at sea. But then fate strikes: the supposed ship goes down with man and mouse and everyone who believes they can inherit something from Karl storms Mary's house. With so much "sympathy" from the grieving relatives, the man believed to be dead has to put things in order himself.

The Bodendieks' pension is not enough for them. So the couple decide to rent it out. What they hadn't planned, however, was that they let out the good room twice - he to the young Lisa, she to Klaus, who is almost the same age. As business-minded as the Bodendieks have become, they believe they have double the income when they realize that Klaus works nights. But things only get tricky when Klaus is in bed during the day and Lisa's boss comes to visit...

Exciting things happen on Captain Brass' small cargo ship on the last day in port: a windy "doctor" turns the captain on to a strange new ship's pharmacy, in which the medicines are replenished free of charge by his staff in every port of call. The "curbside swallow" Olga has long known that this is really about cocaine smuggling...