Teenage girl idolises television game show host, and gets a chance to be his assistant.

Geierwally, who earned her name through a bitter fight with a bird of prey, refuses to marry Vinzenz, the heir apparent assigned to her by her father, and lives a secluded life in a mountain hut. Her love for Bärenjosef seems hopeless, especially since he knows nothing of Wally's love. She becomes increasingly isolated, becomes the laughing stock of the village, and misunderstandings arise because Bärenjosef's sister Afra is mistakenly regarded as his “girlfriend.” Wally then decides that she would rather have Josef dead than not at all...

Set in Hamburg's “Hell's Kitchen,” a waterfront milieu of gangsters, pimps, dealers and prostitutes, the story follows the attempts of an ex-seaman first to insinuate himself into the scene, and then to extricate himself from it. He becomes a small-time pimp, sending his naive girlfriend out onto the streets thinking she is financing their middle-class future. When he becomes involved with an old pal, Nil, he increases his criminal portfolio. But when he steals Nil's girlfriend and things heat up, he leaves for his sister's middle-class home in Berlin, where his attempts to fit in are doomed from the start. Returning to Hamburg, he starts a rapid decline that delivers him into the waiting arms of Nil, whose revenge is merciless.