The film is about a ship that is abandoned by its owners in the port of Hamburg, about its crew, who find themselves in a rather desperate situation, and about a journalist whose talent is little appreciated by television, but all the more appreciated by a secret service agent.

The two washed-up TV stars Micki and Ginger and the unemployed physicist Reno try to kidnap a young woman. But one of the three kidnappers suddenly doubts the value of the money and drives his accomplices mad. The kidnapped woman is already missing. Three children from a good family are looking for their sister: the dutiful Junior, who counts up his day in seconds, his brother Adrian, who, by contrast, thinks life is one big family outing, and Sophia, the artist, who never finds the real thing in life.