Charlie, a very gifted, young acrobat, cannot find employment. A dancer and colleague, whom he trained, has gotten him a job as a stagehand at a vaudeville theatre. After a number of chaotic events and some highs and lows - none of which ever discourage him - his hour arrives: an act can't go on and "Akrobat schööön" can finally make his grand entrance.

A man and a woman struggle to stifle their love for each other, even after he moves away to travel the world and she marries a suitor.

Melodrama about an actress falling in love with a man who wants her to give up her job.

Based on an 1884 novel by Julius Stinde, it is a family chronicle set in late nineteenth century Berlin.