Berlin, shortly after World War II. Five parentless siblings, led by the oldest sister Inge Kuckert, search for a place to stay and a basis of existence in the destroyed city. A bombed villa in the Grunewald seems to be the right "cuckoo's nest", but an alleged authorised disposal tries to drive the siblings out of the building. Fortunately, the friendly neighbor can help.

Hans Albers plays returning war veteran Hans Richter who has trouble finding work. With nowhere else to turn, Richter gets involved with black market activities. This so disgusts Richter's son, blind ex-soldier Edwin (Paul Edwin Roth), that the boy literally disowns his father. Hans eventually mends his ways, but not before several other devastating setbacks.

New teacher Heider takes up his post with great enthusiasm. His unconventional ideas meet with incomprehension and mistrust from the old head teacher Ruppert. When a boy has an accident on a school trip, the children blame Heider. The parents turn against him and he is suspended from his job. But Ruppert has come to respect the new boy. He does not believe he is to blame. Meanwhile, the children are preparing the next mischief. They want to blow up a ruin with explosives found in the forest. Heider is able to prevent this at the last minute. He is rehabilitated and everyone happily awaits his return to school.

Berlin, early post-war period. Several friends meet every Wednesday evening to escape the gray monotony of the city and their lives. They are a diverse group of characters with very different destinies. There is, for example, young Grita, who is gradually beginning to separate from her husband Georg because he is becoming increasingly addicted to gambling. She finds new love with the engineer Erik. But the young refugee girl Henny has also fallen in love with the handsome engineer.

Otto, a feckless Everyman, tries to adjust to the postwar travails of his defeated nation. Stymied by black-market profiteers and government bureaucrats, Otto begins fantasizing about a happier life at the end of that ever-elusive rainbow.

Inge Peters has a guilty conscience. She told her mother, that she’d be going to the weekend house at the lake with her friend Barbara, but in reality, the horny girl is taking Peter with her. She’s afraid, that if mom finds out, she’s gonna lecture her again, starting with the slogan, “In your time as it once was in mine …” So Inge spends her nights in bed dreaming dreams of young ladies breaking moral taboos … just like she did and about which she now has to deceive her mother. The next morning, she runs to the shore of the lake to spend time with her Peter, only to see mom standing before the two young teens.