July 1928: Vicky, who comes from abject poverty, leaves her homeland and goes to Berlin in the hope of a better life. She wants to stay with her friend Doris. But when she arrives in Berlin, Vicky finds out that the elegant address on Doris's letters is wrong. Vicky goes on a search. The trail leads to the Scheunenviertel, a slum area. There Vicky meets the dancer Elsie and the bar pianist Harry. The three witness Doris being pulled dead from the river. The homeless Vicky asks Elsie, who shares a tiny room with two girls, to take her in. Full of hope, Vicky and Elsie apply to be saleswomen at the Jonass department store, which is about to open. When both are taken, the big dream of a life without poverty seems to come true. Unaware that department store owner Arthur Grünberg is in fact on the verge of bankruptcy and that the opening of Jonass is in jeopardy.