Berlin, around 1900. Art student Hugo Großmann takes his work lightly and his pleasure seriously! A friend’s warnings do no good. He fails his exams. In the vegetable cellar of the widow Möhring, he finds cheap lodging and, in her daughter Mathilde, the person he needs. Hugo resists her positive influence for a long time. As his affection for the girl grows, so does his ambition. Hugo passes his exams, but then the easy life beckons him once again! Mathilde emerges victorious this time as well: he takes the post of mayor in Woldenstein and makes her his wife. It becomes their shared success to secure a railroad connection for the small town against all odds. At the inauguration, a tragedy claims Hugo’s life.