Engaged to the daughter of an aging baron, an ambitious advertising executive wishes to renovate the baron’s crumbling castle into a holiday getaway for the social elite. In his zeal to seal the deal, he manages to alienate his friends, lose his fiancee, and end up with nothing.

Joseph von Träubesser is a scion of a wealthy aristocratic family. He's not satisfied with idle bliss but is ambitious and tries to become a good painter. His family and especially his nephew Leonid, who could be taken for his twin, think he's cracked. Fabian Cabanas, a famous painter, isn't at all pleased with his life. Apion Herbst, a postman and spiritualist, holds séances when off duty and helps Fabian to a new body. And Joseph too profits from this séance.