Austria, during the great inflation. The entire country has broken down; once opulent districts of Vienna, symbols of the city's wealth, are marked by poverty and neglect. Nonetheless, there are still those who unscrupulously take advantage of the desperate situation of others. For example, the former small-businessman Rosenow, who has now become general director of the Central European Bank. As a person, he is a good-hearted man of integrity, but as a businessman, cunning and relentless. But even other small-businessmen take advantage of the desolate situation. The butcher, the baker, the seamstress. While the butcher uses his power to bend the will of beautiful young girls, the seamstress has other plans for them: she couples the young girls with well-situated men, who are eager to pay a price for a bit of physical warmth in these cold times. Not even the murder of the rich Lia Leid can keep them from their evil deeds.