Harry Peltzer, who is passionate about his job as a firefighter, and his superior, fire chief Paul Körner, are the best of friends. This changes the day they both meet Nelly, a young, blonde cashier at a vending machine buffet, on whom both men immediately set their eyes. As Harry has a much better chance with Nelly, Paul's friendship with him soon turns into bitter antagonism, if not outright enmity.

German silent film

In Calcutta, McAllan meets the beautiful Indian woman Malatti, with whom he immediately falls in love. The engineer quickly neglects his professional obligations and follows her. After some complications, the two of them finally get closer at her home, even if Malatti's father Badhama rejects this connection. Badhama only agrees to the planned marriage when he learns how wealthy this white man must be. After some time, McAllan returns to his large construction site, where things are going haywire. Many workers die in an explosion, and McAllan is now liable with his fortune. As a result, the engineer, who became impoverished overnight, suddenly becomes uninteresting for Malatti's father as a son-in-law, especially since with a solvent Japanese man who offers a lot of money for his daughter's hand,

The old man and McAllan then got into a physical altercation on the roof of a train that was moving at full speed, in which Malatti's father fell. McAllan assumes that his adversary died in the process. When a gang of rogue robbers board the train, McAllan's life doesn't seem worth a damn anymore. But then, almost out of nowhere, his faithful servant Lubzang appears and saves his master's life at the last moment. Malatti, also on board, falls into the clutches of the gang and is sent to Tibet by the sinister fellowsabducted to be offered as a sacrifice to the goddess Bhawani. However, a kind-hearted member of the gang of robbers takes pity on her and helps the exotic beauty to escape. A little later, Malatti meets Lubzang, who has meanwhile broken away from his master McAllan. He takes her with him.

Malatti's father has unexpectedly survived the fall from the train and now vows to take cruel revenge on McAllan. In Lhasa, the old capital of Tibet, seat of the Dalai Lama and at the same time a "forbidden city" for all foreigners, there is another dramatic encounter between the engineer and Badhama. In a dark dungeon, he thinks he recognizes McAllan and tries to stab the man he holds responsible for all the misfortune. He does not realize who he is stabbing, killing his own daughter in the process. The Dalai Lama's servants arrest Badhama and throw him in the dungeon. Malatti's father is sentenced to death, while McAllan sees the light of day again and is released.

A prosecutor, keen on punishing those he deems undesirable, convicts a woman of murder. It is only after the conviction that he learns of the circumstances that lead to the crime.

In 18th century Europe, King Friedrich II of Prussia leads his army through the seven-years-war with neighboring states, and after numerous near defeats, eventually brings a victorious army back to Berlin.