Four hours by boat from the lightship Elbe 1 is the southern entrance and lock of the Kiel Canal. There, in Brunsbüttelkoog, is a seamen's home run by Klara Andresen. This is the main setting of the movie. In the sailors' wives' home, the wives of sailors wait for their return. Klara Andresen not only looks after the concerns of the waiting sailors' wives, but also her brother-in-law Gustav Andresen . Gustav has gone to sea as a ship's cook and now wants to get married. That's why he has placed a marriage announcement and is waiting for the reactions.

Master shoemaker Franz Anecker is raging with jealousy because he has long had a feeling that Mayor Wedekamp has his eye on his wife Lene. Old journeyman Matten believes the same, and since he loves beer and corn, he likes to keep a watchful eye on the goings-on in the house over a well-filled glass. As Matten cannot observe everything, he fails to notice that the master's young sister is particularly pleased by Wedekamp's visits.

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.

Old Grandpa Meiners has to shout every word into his old-fashioned earpiece if he is to understand anything at all. That's why he doesn't notice the false friendliness of his daughter-in-law Bertha at first. All that matters to her is that the old man finally hands over the farm to Jochen, her husband, who is completely under her thumb. Only her niece Elke and the farmhand Bernd can see through the false game. But all attempts to open the old man's eyes fail because Bertha has succeeded in making Elke look bad to the old man. At the last minute, Bernd manages to play another ear trumpet into the old man's hands. Although it resembles the old ear trumpet on the outside, its built-in electric hearing aid makes the old man so perceptive that he not only hears the ticking of the clock, but also finds out what his daughter-in-law is up to.

The grocer Karsten Kray, a widower in his prime, is being hunted: four women have set out to steer him into the harbor of a second marriage. His drinking companion Asmus Broihan, a coffee broker and bachelor with an in-depth knowledge of the establishments of "Sankt Liederlich", is completely against it. Both day and night, he is ready and eager to chase his friend Kray through the amusements of the world-famous entertainment district. He is prepared to use almost any means to thwart the plans of the boisterous ladies.

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...