Manfred, a lathe operator, and Manuela, a seamstress, marry and try to find happiness together. They have two children in quick succession and realize that their simultaneous material advancement is beyond their strength. Marianne stops working and Manfred's position in the company deteriorates. The atmosphere between the two becomes more irritable, even more so when Marianne finds a new job. She becomes increasingly distant from Manfred, who is suspicious of her emancipation, and ends up sleeping with another man. But the two move towards each other and, after five years of marriage, find their way back together.

An exploration of the cult of the genius, an anti-heroic figure who chooses to be a social outcast and live on the fringe of bourgeois morality.