Young Elisabeth goes on a country trip with her mother, her friends Reinhard and Erich, their parents and the pastor. While the adults prepare a picnic lunch, the three youngest members of the group are asked to look for berries for dessert. The dutiful Erich eagerly collects them, while Elisabeth and Reinhard set off together in search of fruit. They find a hiding place they had built years ago. Although they still love each other, Elisabeth is sad. Reinhard will leave the next day to study in another city and will only visit her rarely. She doesn't know how she will go on living without him. She picks him a water lily as a memento and he gives her a goldfinch in a cage.

Berlin during the Great Depression of 1929. Unemployed cab driver Emanuel sees no more opportunities for himself in the city and wants to try his luck somewhere outside. His friend Fritz lends him his cab for one last trip. In the process, he meets the dancing girl Susi. She is young, beautiful, carefree, self-confident and persuades him to stay. During a demonstration by the unemployed, a policeman is stabbed to death. Emanuel is suspected. He is arrested in the evening at Susi's revue. Frida and Gerda and other young people with their problems and their longing for a little security and social safety are also there.